ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Football Association’s General Council, through a no-confidence motion, de-seated its president Dr Fazal-ur-Rehman and replaced him with the body’s vice-president, Mohammad Saleem Chaudhry.

The council meeting was held here at the Pakistan Sports Board late on Thursday in which 30 of the 32 members voted for no-confidence against Dr Reh­m­an after the motion was moved by IFA secretary Syed Zakir Hussain Naqvi.

The move follows the split in the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) between groups led by Faisal Saleh Hayat and Zahir Shah.

While the IFA secretary and council members have been supporting the Shah group, Dr Rehman voted for Hayat in an election held on June 30 despite a Lahore High Court (LHC) stay order restraining both parties from holding elections.

Dr Rehman had earlier in an affidavit given assurance to the IFA council that he will give his voting right in the PFF Congress to sitting MNA Tariq Fazal Chaudhry.

Shah was due to fight against incumbent Hayat for the PFF hot-seat but the country’s football governing body split into two factions with the splinter group suspending Hayat through an Extraordinary Congress.

Despite LHC’s orders, Hayat held elections in Changla Gali where he got Dr Rehman’s vote in a one-sided poll.

“On an affidavit, he [Dr Rehman] assured us that MNA Tariq Fazal Chaudhry will cast vote on behalf of IFA but he didn’t honour his commitment which is why we brought no-confidence motion against him,” said Shrafat Bukhari, an IFA council member.

Dr Rehman, who didn’t attend the meeting, did not respond to Dawn despite repeated attempts but had said a few days back that he “didn’t care about the no-confidence motion and would respond at an appropriate time”.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

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