KARACHI:
The Supreme Court upheld the National Sports Policy 2005 clause that bars office bearers of the country’s sports bodies for more than two terms, resulting in the dismissal of various officials including the Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) President Arif Hasan with ‘immediate effect’.
“Federations including gymnastic and handball bodies will also be affected,” a PSB official told The Express Tribune while confirming that the POA chief stood ‘void’ after the orders. The official added that the PSB’s stance was taken in the best interest of country’s sports. “We have shown no improvement in the past 10 to 15 years. This is because of officials who care only about the perks of the position and are not interested in promotion of sports. We are hopeful that the rotation of these officials will bring improvement in the federations’ performance.”
Meanwhile, no POA official was available to comment on the development and Hasan did not answer the phone calls made to him.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2012.
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Arif - Ignore the judgement. Be a man. Do what PM did. It is only Supreme Court. Did US say anything on this.. Till then have fun and enjoy the London Olympics
Mr Hassan, as much as you say, there is lot of talent in the country, i am amazed you managed to stay on top of several Govt posts including the The Equestrian Federation (EFP), PST, POA and senior member of PSB without yielding any significant results. Your clan of jokers (ex-army men) enjoyed the perks but failed to provide results. Although, it took 10 years for our courts to fault sports administrators but time has proved that honesty will prevail. I respect your ideas were creative and at some stage your intentions were true, but Sir, it faded away with time. You have to lead this change and encourage transformation. A man of your stature will or should respect court's decision. I hope this leads to betterment of our athletes in the long run and we speak through results rather than blogs. I am doing my part through my own expense and I hope you do yours. If you manage to read my comment, I hope they are not taken personally but it’s opinion of an outsider you met, who doesn’t believe in nepotism and has watch you grow and has been impacted by your policies. At the end of the day, you have my utter most respect. I will stand outside the que of your fair-weather friends and if we meet again, I hope that our meeting will be cordial without prejudice or impartiality.