LAHORE: The sitting chairman of the Lahore Race Club (LRC) Tariq Aziz has resigned from both the stewardship and the chairmanship of the racing club here on Wednesday.

Tariq told Dawn that he was forced to call it a day as “ the landed aristocracy and Syeds of Punjab have teamed up to get rid of a commoner.

He was referring to the joining hands of Syed Fakhar Imam, Makhdum Syed Ahmad Mahmud and Syed Pervez Hussain, who had been stewards under his chairmanship but have formed a group against him in the October election of the LRC stewards and had won four seats each while three candidates from each group had tied up with 25 votes apiece for the remaining two seats of the 10-seat panel of the LRC stewards. Tariq was not allowed to exercise his right of casting vote granted under the Memorandum and the Articles of Association of the club formed during the British rule in 1924.

Tariq made his debut as steward in the late 1970s and had worked with co-steward Rafique A. Mullick under the chairmanship of Arbab Nur Mohammad Khan in shifting the club to the present site from Gulberg Road complex in 1977 onwards.

He later enjoyed the longest term in office of the LRC chairman since he was first elected to this office in 2002 from 2017. For six month his junior colleague retired Lt Col Pervez Masud replaced him in the following year but was again re-elected chairman unanimously in the 2018-19 election.

As chairman in the fist tenure, Tariq had been a benevolent presence for the racing fraternity by giving a big boost to horse-racing by his innovations that were vital for revolutionise the club, transforming it in to an all-weather day/night racing facility with the installation of floodlighting system around the twin-track racecourse, a dust and a velvet green grass track.He had also attracted unprecedented sponsorship in kind and cash worth around rupees five hundred billion. Besides encouraging new owners to work for the revival for the lost glory and prestige of the sports and make the LRC an ever flourishing institution.

For his meritorious services he had drawn praise and respect from racing circles and breeding industry. The industry has a lot to thank him for making the club which is new an attractive place worth mouth watering to capture.

If one looks at the developments carried out by him during his longest ever tenure that it is recognised as one of the best racing facility and speaks about the vision of this man.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2019