Lankan organisers desperate: Sindh minister in fee evasion row

Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and MPA Ghulam Mujadid Isran fail to pay $1500 as conference fee.

KARACHI: Organisers of an international parliamentarian moot have contacted Pakistani authorities over participation fee evasion by its delegates.

Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and MPA Ghulam Mujadid Isran were sent to the conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and were required to deposit $1,500 as participation fee.

According to communication received by the Sindh Assembly Secretariat, both the delegates failed to deposit the fee with the management. Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro has been requested to intervene and solve the matter.

Soomro and Isran both belong to the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the disclosure led to an angry outburst in party cadres, particularly among members of the Peoples Lawyers Forum (PLF).

There was genuine anger over Soomro’s activities as minister, said a PLF leader. “The law ministry is being run by retired bureaucrats who have been appointed as consultants,” he said.

Members believed that veteran leaders were being ignored while new entrants were being appointed to important posts such as that of additional advocate-general.

Repeated attempts were made to contact Soomro but he was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2011.