KARACHI, Sept 4: Thirteen out of the 16 advisers to the Sindh chief minister are not elected representatives and five of them are non-graduate.

This was stated by Senior Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed, on behalf of Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar, in response to a written question by Mir Mohammad Hasan Talpur during question hour in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday. The minister said that among the non-elected advisers, Ghulam Rasool Unnar was a non-matric (middle pass), Ali Akbar Nizamani a matriculate, Lt (r) Syed Manzoor Hasan an intermediate and Mumtaz Hameed a diploma-holder. There was no mentioned of Syed Aijaz Ali Shah Sheerazi’s educational qualification.

The rest of the advisers are possess graduate or post-graduate degrees. They are: Aftab Ahmad Shaikh (BA/LLB), Faqir Mohammad Jadam Mangrio (MA), Salahuddin Haider (BA) Noman Saigol (MBA), Faisal Malik (BA), Abdul Majeed Jamali (MA/LLB), Ms Mumtaz Anwar (BA/DBA) and Waseem Akhtar (graduate).

Replying to supplementary questions, the minister told the House that educational qualification was not a pre-requisite for appointment as an adviser but an adviser could be delegated powers of a minister. An adviser is not supposed to take oath as he is not a minister, he added.

The question by Assardas Hemanani remained unanswered because it was not received at the assembly secretariat. Mr Hemanani wanted to know that when would the ban on recruitment be lifted as unemployment had been creating great hardship for the people of Sindh.

In reply to the question by Syed Ali Mardan Shah, the House was informed that the Sindh Services Tribunal was headed by Justice (r) Abdul Ghani Shaikh while Yusif Ali Mirza and Syed Noor Ahmed Shah were its members. In response to another question, the House was told that a total of 581 appeals were pending a verdict as on May 31, 2003.

In Reply to Anwar Ahmed Khan Mahar’s question, the house was informed that there was no proposal on allotment of agricultural land in Sindh to the effected people of Tarbela Dam as the federal government was considering to make cash payment to them as compensation.