HYDERABAD, Sept 12: People’s Party Parliamentarians-backed Awam Dost Panel suffered a setback in Tando Allahyar district when three nazims switched sides and joined the Azad Umaid Ali Shah group headed by a brother of PPP MPA Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi.

The Shah group has formed an alliance with government-supported Azad Magsi Ittehad to consolidate latter’s position in the third phase of elections in the district.

An announcement to the effect was made at the residence of MPA Irfan Gul Magsi at a press conference here on Monday.

The ADP nazims said they had won elections with their own efforts and were supporters of Umaid Ali Shah Rizvi and it was upto him to form alliance with any group.

Former Sindh minister for jail Umaid Ali Shah Rizvi, Dr Rahila Magsi, former MPA Abdul Ghani Dars, Dr Zulfikar Yousfani, former ADP nazims Mir Aslam Talpur (UC Mirabad), Roshan Thebo (UC Dasori) and Asif Khawaja (UC Sheikh Moosa) and brother of Mir Aslam, Mir Ghulam Mohammad alias Mir Pappu, the former member of PPP Sindh council were present on the occasion.

Dr Irfan Gul Magsi said the ADP-backed councillors and nazims had joined the Azad Umaid Ali Shah group which had announced its support for the AMI.

He said Khair Mohammad Khokhar had been proposed as candidate for taluka nazim Tando Allahyar, Fayyaz Sheikh for taluka nazim Chambar and Mir Ghulam Mohammad alias Mir Pappu as taluka nazim for Jhando Khan Mari taluka.

Mr Magsi expressed his gratitude to the ADP councillors and nazims for joining the group and said Tando Allahyar was the only district where all councillors and UC nazims would work on one platform.

He vowed to work for development of Tando Allahyar district which was needed to be brought at par with other developed areas of the country.

He said more than 200 councillors were with the AMI and the strength had been shown to the Sindh chief minister on Sunday.

He said the AMI had majority in the district and the taluka of Tando Allahyar but the MQM did not want to support it they were free to contest elections separately.

Umaid Ali Shah said he had announced unconditional support for the AMI without facing any kind of pressure because the group was also independent and he endorsed decisions taken by the AMI for slots of taluka and district nazims.

He said Mir Pappu had resigned from the Sindh council membership of the PPP and said Mian Ali Mohammad Walhari, who had joined the PPP after 2002 general elections, was also with him.

He said the group had 73 councillors in the district and 22 in Tando Allahyar taluka.

Replying to a question whether former ADP nazims and councillors would have won elections without having support of the PPP, he said they would have won with overwhelming majority had they contested as independents.

He said he did not have any problem of politics in Tando Allahyar because he had contested and won election in 1993.

ENROLMENT: The chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Prof Maqsood Hussain, has informed that enrolment forms from regular students and registration forms from private candidates who intend to appear at secondary certificate part-I (class-IX) annual examination 2006 will be accepted upto November 14 without late fee and upto November 28 with late fee of Rs50 and upto December 12 with late fee of Rs100.