PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Monday suspended the holding of the November 25 Pakistan Olympic Association elections in Lahore by issuing a stay order and put the federal government and the association’s president and election commission on notice for separately explaining position on the alleged irregularity.

A bench comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Younas Taheem fixed Nov 27 for hearing into a joint petition of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association president Senator Ghulam Ali and secretary general and former World Squash champion Qamar Zaman.

The petitioners objected to the elections on the ground that instead of them, the relevant authorities had illegally named former KPOA president and secretary general as voters in the polls.

While issuing the stay order, the bench observed the holding of the POA elections would remain suspended until the next hearing.

Asks body, govt to explain position on alleged anomaly

The bench also issued notices to the federation of Pakistan through the inter-provincial coordination secretary, sports wing, and the POA’s president asking them to explain position on the matter separately on the next hearing.

Shumail Ahmad Butt, lawyer for the petitioners, said his clients were duly elected as the president and secretary general of the KPOA, the apex body in the province working for the promotion of sports.

He said his clients had been looking after the KPOA affairs since their elections on June 12, 2013.

The lawyer said KPOA had been affiliated with the POA since 1992, whereas the POA was governed by the Pakistan Sports Board under the provisions of National Sports Policy, 2005 promulgated by the federal government in 2005.

He said previously, the two respondents, Syed Aqil Shah and Zulfiqar Butt, had held key offices at the KPOA for many years and that to perpetuate their stay at the organisation, they got themselves elected for the fourth term through ‘so-called’ elections on Feb 21, 2012.

Butt said his client, Ghulam Ali, had challenged that the Aqil Shah and Zulfiqar Butt elections and the Peshawar High Court in Feb 2013 set aside the elections and ordered fresh polls through an independent and impartial Election Commission.

He claimed that in pursuance of the court’s direction, the KPOA General Council convened a meeting on May 27, 2013 and appointed an independent Election Commission headed by a former high court judge and other independent members to hold free and fair KPOA elections on June 12, 2013.

The lawyer said the elections were held accordingly under the supervision of Pakistan Sports Board and POA in which both the petitioners got elected.

He said the POA’s Election Commission issued through electronic mail a schedule of elections on Nov 9 and decided to hold polls on Nov 25.

The lawyer said as Aqil Shah and Zulfiqar Butt ceased to remain KPOA office-bearers, they were not entitled to vote in the POA elections.

He said the province had been denied its genuine representation in the elections by depriving the two petitioners of their legal right to vote.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014