KARACHI: The secretary of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Asif Bajwa is expected to visit the metropolis this weekend to resolve the issues pertaining to the Karachi Hockey Association (KHA), Dawn has learnt.

The KHA headed by Dr Syed Junaid Ali Shah with Haider Hussain as secretary returned to power in Sept 2016 for the remaining term of two years after the previous set-up was sent home in a no confidence move.

Unfortunately, since day one the incumbent body was not allowed to work by the rival group allegedly with the support of the PHF.

The PHF President retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and then secretary Shahbaz Ahmed visited the KHA Sports Complex in Gulshan Iqbal in the past to settle the dust and gave a clean chit to the KHA in the presence of a large number of mediamen.

On completion of two years, the panel was re-elected for four years in 2018.

The Sindh Hockey Association (SHA) has not amended its constitution and recognise only four districts of Karachi instead of six which has now surged to seven after Kemari was declared a district.

It is on record that Khokhar has time and again hailed the efficient KHA secretary by rewarding him cash prize of Rs50,000 for lending support to the PHF in staging the National Hockey Championship in the city besides award him a certificate of appreciation recently.

Due to persistent parallelism, the upcoming players are in a fix as they are pressurised not to play at KHA Sports Complex.

Sources alleged that the divide and rule politics of the PHF has damaged the game to a large extent with no Karachi player making it to the national team.

Meanwhile, the KHA Sports Complex that was allegedly misused for decades has been converted into an excellent facility in a short span of time.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020