As the biggest body of world sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to suspend membership of Pakistan in coming July for violating its charter, one wonders what three provincial governments will tell to the people to defend their claims that they have organised the world’s largest youth festivals.

The Punjab government has been claiming that it has organised the world largest sports events under the umbrella of the Youth Festival in last two years in which millions of players took part.

Following in the footstep of Punjab, the two other provinces of Balochistan and Sindh also organized events to attract the youth and made tall claims about their success. But what finally culminates is a sad story -- the IOC has decided to ban Pakistan to isolate it from the world of sports.

Should that happens it will certainly be a big failure of the PML-N government as it has never made any serious effort to avoid the suspension of the IOC membership to safeguard the interest of players, especially those who are knocking at the international doors.

All the three provincial governments have been harping on about hosting of successful youth festivals, but these events are never recognized by any international forum of sports.

Billions of rupees have been wasted in these fruitless events by governments of three provinces to get a cheap publicity instead of following instructions of the IOC.

It will be shocking news for every citizen if the IOC suspends the membership of Pakistan, particularly in the backdrop of holding successfully youth festivals as claimed by three provinces.

The federal government can still avoid the ban by accepting the IOC Charter before July, otherwise the writing on the wall is imminent.

A last-ditch effort can be made when a government’s representative will go to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on May 21 to explain Pakistan’s position.

The provincial governments should concentrate on their original role of holding Under-16 competitions in various sports instead of organizing such meaningless sports festivals.

Had the Sports Board Punjab remained focus on its original role, it could have been more productive for the youth.

In the past, the SBP would not only hold under-16 events for boys and girls but it would also pay monthly stipends to outstanding players who earned gold, silver or bronze medals at the inter-provincial competitions.

The SBP still has the time to re-start under-16 competitions in games like hockey, kabaddi, wrestling, athletics and volleyball.

Finally, elections of the Lahore Region Cricket Association (LRCA) have been completed as this last week the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the results of East and West Zones, affiliated with the LRCA.

However, the results of the North Zone is still left pending as the status of Shahdara Cricket Club is yet to be decided by the Lahore High Court.

The elections of all three zones were held in November last year, but since some clubs had filed a petition challenging the status of some clubs, the Lahore High Court has ordered not to announce the results.

According to results, the group of former LRCA president Khawaja Nadeem has earned a clear victory. Officially, the group has won elections of the West Zone, but faces defeat in the East Zone. However, unofficially, the Nadeem’s group is also the winner in the North Zone.

In the next phase, three zones will elect the president, secretary and treasurer of the LRCA. As many as 33 representatives of the three zones will cast their votes. The victory of Nadeem’s group looks certain as majority of representatives will be recommended by its group.

Sharaiz Abdullah Khan has been elected as president of the East Zone. He is son of late Aamir Hayat Khan Rokhari, who had run the Lahore Region as president for almost three decades from 1978 to 2009.

Aamir Hayat was defeated by Khawaja Nadeem in 2009 elections.

Ahmad Ayaz Khan and Ghulam Abbas have been elected as secretary and treasurer, respectively, from the East Zone. Similarly, Zulfiqar Ahmed, Mansoor Hayat Khan and Muhammad Aslam have been elected as president, secretary and treasurer, respectively, from the West Zone.