The 32nd National Games, that were held in Lahore in December last year, were conducted amid controversy surrounding its legality. PHOTO: FILE
Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Arif Hasan has fired another warning concerning the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) possible ban on Pakistan, if they continue to use political influence over sports, during a press conference held at the Karachi Press Club yesterday.
There has been a long going deadlock between the POA and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) – who also have the support of the Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) sports wing – over the implementation of the National Sports Policy (NSP). This policy bars any official from continuing in a position if they have already completed two four-year tenures.
However, the POA has maintained that it is an independent body and is by no means affected by the sports policy since it runs under the charter of the IOC.
“I’ll present the POA’s version on the entire matter during the IOC’s meeting on February 15,” Hasan told reporters. “The IOC can ban Pakistan over matters of continuous political interference regarding sports, but if this does happen, there will be dire consequences.”
Recently, the IPC sports wing went ahead with the scheduled meeting of the PSB despite being given notices from the POA and the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF).
The meeting was chaired by the new IPC sports wing secretary Fareedullah Khan, who went on to form a seven member ad-hoc committee made responsible of holding the National Games and looking after the implementation of the NSP.
The committee is headed by the Basketball Federation president Asif Bajwa, while other members include, Shanawaz Murree as a representative of Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Senator Ghulam Ali, Mudassir Arain from Sindh while Bajwa is from Punjab. The nominees from the departmental units are Zafar Luck and Colonel Qaiser Mustufa.
‘National Games is a prerogative of the POA’
Meanwhile, Hasan vowed that the PSB would not be allowed to host the National Games again as it was a prerogative of the POA to stage the prestigious event, which it had already done with the Punjab Olympic Association (PbOA).
“The PSB can stage a national event, we’ll support it as a promotion of sports in the country, but they can’t host the National Games again,” he said. “Only the POA has the right to conduct the most prestigious games in the country.”
It should be mentioned here the that the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) and the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) had respectively said that they would not recognise any records made at the 32nd National Games held in Lahore as the event was deemed illegal.
The units of the Army, Navy and PAF had boycotted the event as they believed that the organisers of the event were not eligible to hold their seats in light of the sports policy.
The PSB and Punjab government had both decided not to support the POA for the games as both its president and secretary had already held offices for two four-year tenures.
Arif Hasan
“The IOC can ban Pakistan over matters of continuous political interference regarding sports, but if this does happen, there will be dire consequences.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2013.
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Arif Hassan is willing to get Pakistan banned by the IOC but not willing to give up a post he has held for over 8 years despite showing dismal results!
Personal interest over national interest once again.