‘Illegal elections to floor boxing in Pakistan’

Federation’s president, secretary at crossroads.

KARACHI: The infighting between key Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) officials is hugely responsible for the demise of the sport in the country and with today’s elections being called ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’ by one party, things are nowhere close to being sorted.

The elections have been called by president Doda Khan but the tussle between him and secretary Akram Khan – with charges of corruption surfacing as well – has seen boxing decline rapidly in the last few months. Senior PBF officials have labelled the elections against PBF’s constitution as Doda did not seek the approval of the executive committee a month prior to the occasion.

“This election is unconstitutional as the executive committee hasn’t approved it,” a PBF official told The Express Tribune. “It’s the executive committee which forms the election commission and draws the list of eligible voters. It decides the date, time and venue of the polls but Doda is doing everything on his own.”



The official added that the president and the secretary need to present themselves to in front of the committee for accountability of their performance and finances.

Akram questions Doda’s actions

Meanwhile, Akram has questioned Doda’s actions for giving KESC and KPT the right to vote in the elections despite both teams bring inactive for the last few years.

KESC had closed down its boxing unit several years ago while KPT has put their pugilists on a regular job. Neither were awarded voting rights by the executive committee.

“Doda is doing everything to win the elections but we won’t let this happen,” said Akram. “I have the support of PAF, Army, Navy, Balochistan, Sindh, K-P and Islamabad which is why I’ll go to the venue to stop these unfair elections from taking place. We want to hold the elections legally.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2012.