Pakistan Olympic Association forms committee to resolve dispute

PSB welcomes decision to hold elections in 90 days.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) took a step towards resolving the dispute over its legitimacy yesterday by forming an interim executive committee in Islamabad that will ensure the elections of the association within 90 days.

The POA and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) were at loggerheads due to the revision of the National Sports Policy 2005 that upheld the third tenure restriction over the office-bearers in the federations.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) had earlier ordered that the 25 units of POA were annulled as they were without a structure and were deemed illegal on October 23 last year.

However, to resolve the matter ahead of the Islamic Solidarity Games in March and Beach Games in April, the POA made an interim committee that will be headed by President Basketball Federation Asif Bajwa along with six other members including Taekwondo Federation chief Qaisar Mustafa as the secretary of the interim setup.

The interim committee will ensure that the elections of the 25 federations and POA will take place within 90 days and the POA would be able to run day-to-day activities during the process.



“Finally, we are going towards a solution to the problem,” Islamabad Olympic Association chief Arif Mehmood told The Express Tribune. “As the POA doesn’t exist currently, there is no bridge between international events and Pakistan athletes or the government, so according to the LHC order all the 25 federations will have re-elections to set up new bodies.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination Secretary Abdul Ghaffar Khan welcomed the step by the POA members.

“It’s an encouraging step to end the sports fiasco,” said Khan. “I welcome the development as it means that the federations are taking a productive action. It’s a good step towards resolving the matters.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2013.