ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada on Monday rejected any impression that the government is planning to replace Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) with an ad-hoc body.

“The government will support the PHF,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) Masters Cup.

The PHF, which is mired in financial crisis, has been calling upon the government to release a financial grant to the country’s hockey governing body in order to save the game.

Well-informed sources told Dawn that PHF’s consistent plea for a grant has annoyed the government as well as the offer made by Hockey India (HI) to its Pakistan counterpart for financial assistance after the national team camp was cancelled due to lack of funds.

But Pirzada denied any such rumours that the government was planning to take action against the PHF before adding that the prime minister’s busy schedule had prevented him to meet the PHF representatives. “The government will not suspend the PHF,” he said. “Due to the engagements of the prime minister, the PHF was unable to get an appointment for a meeting so far.”

Sources claimed that the federal government had sought complete details of the funds released to the PHF and its officials over the last seven years and the concerned officers of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and IPC spent a busy day in making a complete presentation which likely to be presented to the prime minister, who is also patron of PHF.

“At this stage, I can’t say anything whether the PM office is going to suspend the PHF or ask resignation from its president Akhtar Rasool Chaudhry,” a senior IPC officer said.

“But one thing is sure is that the government is very annoyed with PHF over its consistent demand for grants, which prompted HI to offer financial assistance.”

He said that in the light of government’s agreement with International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, the federal government and PSB cannot replace any federation with an ad-hoc body.

“If the government wants to bring changes to the PHF, it can simply direct Akhtar Rasool to resign,” the officer said.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2015

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