LAHORE: The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has lifted ban on Pakistan, issuing an affiliation letter to retired Brig Rashid Ali Malik heading the Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBF).

A longstanding fight between two rival PBF groups one headed by Asif Bajwa and the other by Rashid threw basketball in the throes of dealing with affiliation issues both nationally and internationally which finally led to slapping of ban on the PBF by the FIBA a couple of years back.

However, with FIBA issuing the affiliation letter to the PFB recognizing Brig Rashid’s body, basketball in Pakistan might emerge stronger.A press release in this regard was issued by the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) confirming that the FIBA had lifted the ban on Pakistan and recognised Brig Rashid’s PBF, with the international basketball body taking the decision in its central board meeting held in Tokyo, Japan on Aug 8.

“POA expresses its good wishes to the said officials of the PBF with the hope that the activity of basketball will be reactivated/revived to a desirable level to catch up with international standards. This is a good omen and a step towards eliminating fake bodies not affiliated to or recognized by the POA,” read the POA statement.

It may be mentioned here that the rival groups emerged in the PBF in 2001 with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), siding one or the other group, once again being the root cause of rivalry between the two factions.

To start with, a close fight was witnessed when PBF elections were held here in 2001 with the late Air Commodore Afzal Khan contesting against Brig. Rashid in the polls.

However, the polls were not smooth as election complaints by one group were referred to the PSB which imposed ad hoc on the PBF.

Later on, the PBF affairs continued to be marred by infi­g­hting between the two groups with the PSB earlier backing Rashid and then Asif Bajwa under the ad hoc set-up.

However, Rashid and Afzal Khan groups shunned their differences and joined forces against the government-backed body in Asif Bajwa.

On the other hand, the POA had already given affiliation to Brig Rashid’s body but the PSB had been working with Asif Bajwa group. However, after being affiliated by the international body as well as the POA, Brig Rashid group may now be finally able to extract support from the PSB.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2015

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