LAHORE: Around 50 members of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) congress have decided to hold a separate meeting in Islamabad on Jan 3 to adopt a unanimous stand before attending the regular meeting of the congress called by the federation in the same city for Jan 4.

A good number of congress members are not satisfied with the working of the incumbent PHF as the game of hockey has nosedived during the last three years of the present regime, a member of the congress told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

For the first time, some genuine members of the congress have not been invited by the PHF for the Jan 4 meeting which is disgraceful and against the norms of democratic process, lamented the member.

The disgruntled members of the congress have reservations also over PHF’s financial affairs. And there is a possibility that while sensing opposition from these members regarding the federation’s financial affairs, the PHF has decided not to invite them for the congress meeting.

Though PHF president retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, while addressing a press conference in Lahore recently, categorically rejected all the allegations about financial corruption, congress is the appropriate forum to respond to all these allegations.

According to the PHF constitution, the congress meeting is to be held before Dec 31 every year. However, the PHF failed to organise the said meeting in 2016 and for the second consecutive year it could not hold it before Dec 31, 2017.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2018