Newly-formed basketball body ‘unconstitutional’

The officially affiliated body of the Pakistan Basketball Federation called a newly-formed federation as...

LAHORE: The officially affiliated body of the Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF) has called a newly-formed federation as ‘unconstitutional’ while claiming that all the members who participated in the meeting on Monday will be handed show-cause notices.

“Who was the authorised figure to convene the executive meeting?” questioned the PBBF’s Honorary Secretary Lt Colonel (Retd) Naseem Butt while taking to The Express Tribune. “The only body recognised by the Pakistan Sports Body (PSB) and Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) is headed by Muhammad Basharat Raja, who is the president of PBBF.

“He is the only authorised figure to call the executive body meeting. And bearing this in mind, any meeting called without the formal procedure is totally unconstitutional.”

Interestingly, the invitations was sent under the banner of a promoting the game in the country but the meeting turned into an election and subsequently a new Pakistan Basketball Federation was formed under Brig (Retd) Rashid Ali Malik, who previously claimed the support of the POA and the PSB. “According to the constitution you cannot have the election in the absence of the PSB and POA representatives,” said Butt.

According to Butt, there is a legitimate way to form a body. “All the members present there were bogus and everything that happened was forgery,” added Butt.

Meanwhile, the POA official spokesman also ruled out any support to the newly-formed body. He added that the only recognised body is being lead by Basharat Raja as president and secretary.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2010.