KARACHI, July 18: The Sindh government on Monday removed three advisers to the chief minister but gave new positions to two of them.

Through a notification (dated July 16, 2011) issued by the services, general administration & coordination (SGA&C) department, the appointment of advisers Zubair Motiwala, Dr Kaiser Bengali and Khwaja Izharul Hasan was de-notified.

The department issued a fresh notification appointing Mr Motiwala as chairman of the Sindh Investment Board and Dr Bengali as head of the Sindh Development Board. Dawn

Sources close to the Chief Minister's House told on Monday that Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan, a member of the provincial assembly belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was not given an assignment for the time being as the party had opted for the opposition benches in the house.

At present, the number of advisers appointed by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has come to five from eight and they include Aijaz Ali Shah Shirazi and Haleem Adil Shaikh of the Pakistan Muslim League(Q) inducted recently along with two ministers.

The other three advisers are Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh and Imamuddin Shauqeen of the Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) and Rashid Rabbani of the Pakistan People's Party.

The sources said that under the 18th constitutional amendment, “a chief minister may appoint not more than five advisers”, and National People's Party leader Arif Mustafa Jatoi had already moved a bill seeking removal of the anomaly.

They said that the de-notification of three advisers' appointment could be in line with the constitutional provision.

Mr Jatoi has also contested granting of a minister's status to unelected advisers, arguing that this enables them to attend cabinet meetings, where highly sensitive issues are discussed while such advisers are not under the oath of secrecy on such issues.