ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The simmering row between the federal government and the Pakistan Olympic Association shows no signs of abating with the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination on Tuesday seeking audited financial statements of accounts for the last three years from the POA.

Pakistan’s poor performance at this year’s Tokyo Olympics has seen the government and the POA come to war with the former seeking the resignation of the country’s longstanding Olympic chief retired Lt Gen Arif Hasan.

The IPC ministry has been pushing plans for the implementation of a new sports policy and the Standing Committees of National Assembly and Senate are seeking greater oversight of sports bodies in Pakistan.

The POA has raised objections to the new policy and wrote to the International Olympic Committee, claiming it will lead to direct interference in the affairs of the sports bodies which is against the Olympic Movement.

The IPC’s latest move comes despite a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s office for ‘overhauling of sports governance structure in Pakistan’ last month directing it to sort out its issues with the POA.

“In view of the recent decision of the National Assembly Standing Committee on IPC, it is essential to collect the detailed information regarding the working and functioning of POA,” read the IPC statement issued on Tuesday.

It said that POA has been asked to “provide documents relating to legal status of POA (details under Societies Registration Act, 1860), audited financial statements of accounts and auditor’s report for the last three years, budget estimates mentioning the source of funding (domestic & International) for the last three years, detail of officers and staff of the POA, MoU of POA signed with Economic Affairs Division as per policy for regulation of organisation receiving foreign contributions 2013 as well as the NOC from Ministry of Interior required for all NGOs receiving foreign funding”.

The IPC statement added that the government is trying to bring transparency in sports governance in the country. In this regard, the manner in which funds are generated and spent is of utmost importance.

“To achieve this objective, during the last three years, the government has directed the Auditor General of Pakistan to conduct audit of all major national sports federations,” it said.

During the meeting at the PM house on Sept 1, the IPC was instructed to make efforts “to streamline different issues pertaining to the

Pakistan Olympic Association, on immediate basis,” a summary of the decisions taken, a copy of which is available with Dawn, reads.

Instead, the IPC is going all out against the POA and its chief.

During Arif’s 17-year tenure as POA president, Pakistan have failed to win a single medal across five Olympics.

Immediately after the Tokyo Games, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Shahbaz Gill and IPC minister Dr Fehmida Mirza held a news conference in Islamabad to call for Arif’s resignation.

Those calls were echoed during a recent senate session where Jamaat-i-Islami’s Senator Mushtaq Ahmed not only demanded the resignation of the POA chief but also called for Pakistan Sports Board director general and several other retired Army officers holding key posts in sports federations to quit.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2021