ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: The General Council of the Pakistan Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) Monday suspended the president Maj Gen (Retd) Imtiaz Ali and secretary Col (Retd) Hanif Malik for financial irregularities.

The special General Council meeting which had been convened on the directive of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) appointed an ad-hoc committee headed by Brig. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar to run the affairs of the federation.

The financial irregularities in the PAAF was the first agenda point which turned out to be the only one being discussed as the remaining points were deferred.

Information gathered by Dawn reveals that Ch. Abdul Rashid, a former auditor of the PAAF and senior vice president of the Punjab Amateur Athletic Association (PAAA) and Capt Jawaid Zia of Navy brought the financial bunglings to the notice of the house. It is learnt that an amount of Rs 202606 is said to have been shown as a receipt of the loan in the statement of accounts for the year ending June 30, 1999.

Also Col Hanif, it was pointed out, had been operating a Foreign Currency account in a local bank since 1994 but this was never brought to the notice of the General Council.

Hanif admitted operating the FCA account before the house but did not have any solid reason to satisfy the General Council as to why he had not brought the matter to their notice.

Besides, both Imtiaz and Hanif were unable to produce any record of the loan given by the PAAF and as such its return was a doubtful act, the General Council noted.

According to the resolution of the General Council, Jawaid Zia, who is also the treasurer PAAF, was never consulted in maintaining of accounts which was his prime responsibility. As a result of this, Jawaid protested to Col Hanif and refused to sign cheques.

After discussing all matters, the council concluded that gross financial irregularities had been committed by the president and secretary. They noted that the PAAF was being run in an undemocratic manner, which was contrary to the constitution.

The General Council, therefore exercising its powers decided to suspend both the secretary and the president with immediate effect and constitute an ad hoc committee.

The meeting was initially chaired by Gen Imtiaz but things came to such a head that he walked out halfway through and Brig. Khokhar then chaired the proceedings.

Apart from Brig. Khokhar, who was named the chairman of the adhoc committee, other members appointed were: Aminullah Raisani (Baluchistan), Kh. Ahmed Hassan (Punjab), Lt. Col (Retd) Khalid Hussain (Railways), Capt Zafar Mahmood (Navy), Muhammad Khalid Mahmood (Wapda). Khalid will act as the secretary of the ad hoc committee.

The house also decided to convene the next meeting of the General Council at Lahore on Oct 24 under the chairmanship of Brig. Khokhar.

Monday’s meeting was attended by Lt. Col Muhammad Abrar (Army), Group Capt Ahmed Saeed Anjum (PAF), Muhammad Khalid Mahmood (Wapda), Aminullah Raisani (Baluchistan), Habibur Rehman Afridi (NWFP), Lt. Col (Retd) Khalid Hussain (Railways), Muhammad Sharif (Punjab), Capt Zafar Mahmood (Navy), Amanullah Khan (Track and Field Coaches Association), Wing Cdr. Pervaiz Saeed Mir (National Association of Technical Officials) and Zahid Rizvi (Sindh). Representatives of POA and Pakistan Sports Board were also present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, Col Hanif commenting on Monday’s events said that some members of the council intended to disrupt the meeting from the outset by way of creating rowdyism.

Hanif said that the PAAF president deferred the meeting for lunch and when he returned the quorum was not complete. He therefore plans to convene a fresh meeting.