Football club accuses PHA official of theft, vandalism

Petitioner says official plans to use football ground for weddings.

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge on Wednesday sought comments from the Township station house officer (SHO) by April 5 (today) on a petition seeking the registration of a case against four people including a Parks and Horticulture Authority official for allegedly stealing football players’ equipment.

Petitioner Sheikh Yasir Khalil Ahmed submitted that the Flying Eagles Football Club was a registered club with an NOC to play at Ideal Park in Township.

He said that the club had also arranged for electric lighting at the ground.

He said that one day when the players turned up for a game, they found that the lighting had been removed, and the players’ uniforms, kit and four footballs stolen from a room allotted to them by the PHA.

He said he had questioned the groundskeeper and gardeners and they had revealed that a group of about a dozen men including Zubair Ahmed Shah, Professor Tahir Ali and an electrician named Sarwar had come to the ground and removed the lighting and broken the goal posts.

The petitioner alleged that PHA Director Farrukh Ahmed planned to use the ground for weddings and had arranged for the theft and vandalism to discourage the footballers from playing there.

He said property worth Rs235,000 that belonged to the club and its players had been lost.

He said he had approached the Township SHO with his complaint, but been ignored. The court sought comments from the SHO and adjourned proceedings.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2012.