Restoring peace seems to be the motive of both provincial and the federal governments in Sindh in general and its metropolis of over 20 million in particular but sports which can play an effective role seem to be on the back seat.

The apathy towards sports in Sindh could be gauged from the fact that it has been almost three years since the last Sindh Games took place at Hyderabad in 2012. During the last three years only promises were made in connection with promotion of sports but hardly any practical steps taken.

Information gathered by Dawn reveals that the 17th Sindh Games were slated to take place at Larkana from Dec 22 to 25, 2013 but the date passed unnoticed and no soul was moved.

Instituted by the provincial sports department at Larkana in 1986, Sindh Games provides a platform to the upcoming athletes of the province to prove their mettle besides bringing them closer to each other. So far, 16 editions of the Games have been organised in collaboration with the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA).

Initially, the Games were held annually and biannually. However, no Sindh Games were held between 2001 and 2005. The Games picked up momentum when the last six editions from 2008 to 2012 were held annually with 15th and 16th editions taking place in 2012.

And its credit goes to none other than the late Sindh Sports Minister and Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) president Dr Mohammad Ali Shah who had the honour of organising five of the above six Games at different venues of the province setting an unprecedented mark which is difficult to emulate.

Unfortunately, after the demise of Dr Shah at a Houston hospital in Feb 2013, the annual budget remained unutilised and lapsed with the portfolio of sports minister remaining vacant for long. Only recently an adviser to the Sindh chief minister on sports has been appointed.

In this situation, the responsibility lies on the shoulder of secretary sports Sindh Laiq Ahmed to go ahead with the Sindh Games. Contrary to Sindh, sports activities have been regularly taking place in other three provinces — Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. It is pertinent to mention that Sindh has produced a galaxy of stalwarts in the yesteryears who have brought laurels to the nation at the national and international level. The situation has, however, reversed due to lack of training and competitions.

With the holy month of Ramazan approaching fast and the fiscal year about to end next month, there seems no chance that Sindh Games might take place in the near future. It is high time that the Sindh government work out modalities and get approval of the budget in the fiscal 2015-16 for staging the Games in coming Sept-Oct.

Peace in the city has been eluding for long and some measures have been taken by the government to restore it. One of the best possible ways of its restoration would be to promote and encourage sports which are in fact the best medium to bring people of different sects together. The government should facilitate organisers and sponsors to come forward and join hands to eradicate terrorism.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2015

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