Triggering another row: Minister wishes he could handcuff Lt-Gen (retd) Arif

Riaz Hussain Pirzada accuses Pakistan Olympic Association chief of following anti-state agenda.

ISLAMABAD:

Another federal minister of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) triggered a fresh controversy on Monday as he expressed his wish to ‘handcuff’ another retired general Arif Hassan, while accusing him of hatching anti-state conspiracy.

“I want to handcuff Lt General (retd) Arif Hassan, the incumbent chairman of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), and put him behind bars because of his anti-Pakistan agenda,” said Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Riaz Hussain Pirzada.  He was briefing a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on IPC, chaired by Awami National Party’s Senator Farah Aqil.

“He is the same self-styled democratic general, who had handcuffed Mushahidullah [Khan] after entering the Presidency,” Pirzada recalled the bitter era when then army chief Gen Musharraf ousted the Nawaz Sharif government in a bloodless coup in 1999.

“Gen Arif has told me that Pakistan could face international sanctions if he is ousted from the POA,’’ the minister said, adding that such ‘threats’ amounted to a conspiring against the country.

“I told the general that if any sanction is imposed on Pakistan then I will register an FIR against him and will hold him accountable for this conspiracy — as I and my prime minister are not afraid of anyone,” Pirzada said.

He said Gen Arif was making an anti-Pakistan statement in a bid to create a rift between Pakistan and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “We should not tolerate this general as he is not willing to change his conduct,” he said, adding that the army was the main stakeholder in this matter.



However, the committee, in its recommendations, asked the federal minister to maintain Lt Gen Arif as head of the POA as he was elected for the slot for a third consecutive term.

Senator Salim Mandviwalla, a member of the committee, told The Express Tribune that the Gen Arif Hassan-led POA is the only body, recognised by the IOC. “However, the government is backing a parallel body headed by Maj Gen (retired) Akram Sahi,” he added.

The subcommittee termed the Gen Arif-led body as legal and asked the government to support it. However, during the meeting the minister showed his reluctance to accept the POA.

When members of the committee informed him that the IOC had warned the Pakistan government it would suspend its membership, if it did not stop interfering in Olympic-related matters, the minister said Gen Arif was spreading such news with the assistance of the IOC.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2014.