ISLAMABAD, June 28: Two senators in a letter to the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports have pointed out that the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) had not responded properly to their questionnaire.
Senators Dr. Murad Ali Shah and Muhammad Enver Baig have stated with “deep regret” that the PHF “by design” had not given straight answers and had also not provided copies of the document sought by them.
The two urged the chairman of the committee, Senator Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry to “urgently” forward the questionnaire to the PHF so that the answers were submitted before the next meeting was requisitioned.
The PHF, through a letter dated March 8, 2005 had sent in their answers to the questionnaire which was handed out to them in an earlier meeting of the Senate Standing Committee.
Some of the questions which the senators want answered in detail are:
1. How many illegal persons went abroad on visas applied through PHF?
2. Particulars of those persons and where they came from.
3. Dates, year and names of countries for which they were facilitated.
4. Copies of letters written by Capt. Ali and Brig. Musarratullah Khan (secretary PHF) to various embassies for granting visas.
5. Who wrote letters to embassies when the secretary was away?
6. When did the PHF come to know of the visa scandal of human smuggling.
Meanwhile, the Senate Standing Committee which was to meet on June 30 has been rescheduled for July 1 in Islamabad.
The meeting will now discuss squash and tennis affairs after hockey officials said they would be unable to attend because of the Junior World Cup in Rotterdam.