KARACHI: President of the Softball Federation of Pakistan (SFP) Mohammad Saleem Khan has said that the recently held elections of the federation were unconstitutional and were aimed at dividing the federation.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the SFP chief said that such fake elections would not be tolerated because the Secretary General of the Federation, Haider Lehri announced the holding of elections without convening meeting of the executive committee.

“Besides, all steps taken by Mr Lehri for fixing of date, place and appointment of the chief election commissioner and other related matters were without the president’s permission and therefore hold no value,” said Saleem.

He further said that he had postponed the elections slated for March 21 in Lahore by using his constitutional authority but Lehri called the annual general bodymeeting and conducted the elections to get himself elected as the secretary general for a third time which is totally in violation of the National Sports Policy.

Saleem added that the chief election commissioner Syed Khawar Shah illegally accepted the nomination papers of Lehri and through intrigue barred the Punjab Softball Association from participating in the elections while Sindh Softball Association did not take part at all in the elections as it was postponed by the SFP president.

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) had also stopped its nominated representatives Painda Malik (gymnastics) and Iftikhar Tabassum (taekwondo) from participating in the unconstitutional elections and therefore they did not appear as the POA observers. Saleem appealed to POA president, retired Gen Syed Arif Hasan and Secretary Ministry for Inter-provincial Coordination Ijaz Chaudhry and Pakistan Sports Board authorities not to recognise the fake elections and declare them as null and void.

“The constitutional elections of the federation will be held soon in consultation with all affiliated units where the representatives of the sports bodies will be invited as observers,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play