LAHORE, June 23: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has not yet approved the elections of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), which were held in March this year for the next term of four years.
The IOC has raised objections to elections as a result of which Lt-Gen Arif Hasan was elected new president in place of Syed Wajid Ali Shah, who remained POA president for decades.
According to one of the objections, the IOC has asked the POA to explain why election on the important post of treasurer was not held. The POA president soon after the elections had announced that he would announce the name of the treasurer in near future after searching for the most worthy person.
Furthermore, the international body is not satisfied with the hefty executive body which had around 40 members and became the world's biggest body. The IOC in a letter stated that every member country had a maximum of 13 members on the executive body and it too has a 12- member executive body.
The IOC is also not happy with the way the number of vice- presidents and associate secretaries has been increased at the time of elections without getting approval from the general body.
There are 10 vice-presidents as compared to six in the past. They are Prof Anwar Chowdary (boxing), Balochistan Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob (volleyball), Maj-Gen Safdar (athletics), Arshad Khan Lodhi (football), Brig. (retd.) Mussaratullah (hockey), Mrs Sadiqa Afzal (swimming) and one each from Army and Wapda.
Similarly, eight are associate secretaries and they are Col. (retd.) Yayha, Khwaja Idrees (cycling), Saeed Khan (NWFP), Fatima Lakhani, Khaliq Khan (tug-of-war), Ahmad Ali, Afzal Awan.
Every federation has one representative on the executive committee. However, the POA has written a letter to the IOC about 10 days before to convince it about the genuineness of the elections and requested to approve them. But the reply is still awaited.
The POA officials are hoping for a positive reply from the IOC. In case of a negative reply the POA may face suspension. The IOC also took into consideration the report of its representative which attended the elections meeting as observer, a Sri Lanka who was sent by the IOC for the first time.
Meanwhile, the POA has taken two more decisions after the elections. It had re-elected Khwaja Farooq Saeed, the president of Pakistan Gymnastics Federation, as 11th vice-president and given an additional charge of acting treasurer to Khaliq Khan.
Farooq, who was also the vice-president in the last body, was axed for the next term which was in violation of the accord signed between two rivals groups before the elections.
The one group was headed by Arif Hasan and the other by Syed Shahid Ali, the son of the last POA president, Syed Wajid Ali Shah. According to the accord between the two groups due to the entry of a much influential government man, only Lt-Gen Arif Hassan, will be the change and the remaining office-bearers will remain there. But Farooq was not included and that powerful man interrupted to get him on to the executive body.
