November 4, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 17, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Senior Civil Judge, Muhammad Salim Saturday suspended the Pakistan Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) and ordered that its elections be held under auspices of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) within a month.

In a hearing in the case between the PAAF and Muhammad Khalid of Wapda and others, the honourable judge also ordered suspension of the ad hoc committee of the PAAF headed by Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar.

The PAAF with Maj Gen (Retd) Muhammad Imtiaz Ali as its president and Col (Retd) Hanif Malik as the secretary, had obtained a stay order from the court on Oct 20 that prevented the ad hoc committee from holding its first meeting in Lahore on October 24.

The PAAF on the other hand which had also convened a separate meeting on Oct 27 was asked by the court not to go ahead and had set Nov 3 as the date of hearing.

Affairs in the PAAF had turned ugly on Oct 15 when a special general council meeting of the PAAF in Islamabad saw as many as 11 members expressing no confidence in Imtiaz and Hanif and charged them with committing financial irregularities. They announced that the two officials stood suspended and that an ad hoc committee had been formed to run the affairs of the federation.

The ad hoc committee with Brig Khokhar as its chairman had Aminullah Raisani (Balochistan), Khawaja Ahmed Hassan (Punjab), Lt. Col (Retd) Khalid Hussain (Railways), Capt Zafar Mahmood (Navy) and Muhammad Khalid Mahmood (Wapda) as its members.

Meanwhile, Hanif who clearly seemed upset, told Dawn that the decision was acceptable to them but said that they would contest the elections.

Brig Saulat Abbas, Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board, avoided comment and said he had yet to see the court order.

The court's decision has brought to an end the controversial era of Imtiaz and Hanif who had both been at the helm of affairs for more than 10 years.