March 17, 2007	Saturday	Safar 27, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, March 16: The federal government has failed in implementing the national sports policy in letter and spirit and has not been able to make effective its main clause of restricting the tenure of national sports federation officials to two-terms.

The new sports policy, drafted in 2001, resulted in a conflict-like situation between the government and the POA, mainly because it had restricted the tenure of the president, secretary and treasurer of the national sports federations to only two terms of four years each.

But the then president POA, Syed Wajid Ali Shah and secretary Mohammad Latif Butt who until then had enjoyed a monopoly of sorts by holding top positions alongwith their friends in the national sports federations, challenged the clause by saying that it is against the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The federal government, in return, claimed that top officials of these federations had done nothing to improve the standard of the game whatsoever despite their long associations with them and they should be ousted under the restriction imposed in the new sports policy.

The Article 10 (5-b) of the policy stated: "President, honorary secretary and the treasurer will be allowed a maximum of two tenures in any office of a federation or association after which they will become ineligible for holding the same posts. However, they will be allowed to contest for next higher post of the federation or association at any other time.”

On another occasion, President of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf also issued a press statement saying the government would implement the national sports policy despite all opposition, but it yielded no result. Later in 2004, the elections of the POA were held and Lt. Gen. (retd.) Arif Hasan was elected as the new president.

With that change at the top, the hopes of getting the two-term clause fully implemented rose. However, to the surprise of many, Arif succumbed to the pressure of the national sports federations and wrote a letter to the government to find an alternate way to the two-term restriction.

"Yes, the POA has written a letter to the federal government giving alternate suggestions to the two-term clause but so far we have not received any reply," POA secretary Abdul Khaliq Khan told Dawn.

He said the POA was of the view that a committee should be formed which would evaluate the performance of the officials of all sports federations. "The committee can remove the officials for poor performance after just one tenure and may allow them to continue if good results are shown," the secretary said.

He said the POA president was making efforts to meet the prime minister to apprise him about the problems but the meeting has been deferred several times.According to information gathered by Dawn there are almost nine national sports federations out of a total of 36, which are violating the two-term clause.

Besides that, the president of Pakistan Boxing Federation Professor Anwar Chaudhary, president Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) Chaudhary Mohammad Yaqoob and president Pakistan Gymnastic Federation (PGF) Khawaja Farooq are ensuring their long association with the respective organisations by elevating themselves to higher posts. The PBF and PVF presidents have elevated themselves after creating a new post of chairman in 2003 and 2004 respectively while the PGF elevated Khawaja Farooq from secretary to president. All the three officials have been ruling the federations for almost two decades.

Other federations which are violating the clause include Pakistan Boxing Federation (treasurer S.M. Ghaznavi sixth term), Pakistan Cycling Federation (secretary Khawaja Idris serving his third tenure which lasts until 2010), Pakistan Judo Federation (secretary Mahmood Naveed in his third term that ends in 2010), Pakistan Karate Federation (President Munir Ahmad Dar and secretary Mohammad Jahangir both enjoying their third tenures), Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (Treasurer Mohammad Aslam in his fifth term), Adventure Foundation of Pakistan (president Brig. (retd.) Jan Nadir Khan holding the post since 1985 while secretary Col. (retd.) G.H Qamar glued to his post since 1999), Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (President Ali Asghar Valika since 1988, secretary Aspi Mavalvala since 1994 and treasurer Wahid F. Tawanwalla since 1998) Pakistan Shootingball Federation (secretary Chaudhary Mohammad Saleem's third tenure).

Besides the two-term clause, the federal government has also failed in fulfilling its responsibility of implementing otger important clauses.

For example, article 12, clause-b demands that, “Every school must participate in minimum of four games including the martial arts. Each college must have at least six teams including those of athletics."

Clause E says, “All schools, colleges and equivalent institutions should create sports facilities or get affiliated with sports grounds within one year. Failure to do so will make these schools and colleges liable for action against them as considered appropriate by the ministry of education.”

Despite the strict tone of the above mentioned clauses, there are very few schools in the country which are fulfilling the requirements. Also, the government has failed in establishing sports academies while article 13 of the new sports policy clearly states,"On availability of funds, Pakistan Sports Board will create an academy (residential) in selected games at Islamabad. Minimum of one academy each will be created by each province based on local talent.”