LAHORE: An important meeting to resolve the issues of the Pakistan Football Federation is being held in Islamabad on Thursday between the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination and the chairman of the FIFA-appointed PFF Normalisation Committee Haroon Malik, Dawn has learnt through reliable sources.

A high-level official in the sports ministry told Dawn that IPC minister Fehmida Mirza may not attend the meeting because of other assignments, but some officials of the ministry will meet Haroon.

Pakistan was suspended by FIFA when the PFF of Ashfaq Hussain Shah, which came to power through an election held by the Supreme Court in December 2018, seized control of the PFF headquarters from the NC in March.

Since then, the PFF headquarters have been vacated and is under control of the Lahore district administration which took over after the PFF’s failure to pay its three-year lease.

FIFA will not lift the suspension until the NC gets back control of the headquarters and the official was hopeful that talks would provide a breakthrough for the restoration of Pakistan’s membership.

“The ministry has made up its mind to clear all the hurdles to hand over the FIFA House back to the Normalisation Committee,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

The ministry had been instructed by prime minister Imran Khan in September to take steps to ensure the PFF headquarters is handed back to the NC.

However, the government has put up its own set of demands that have to be fulfilled by the NC before the headquarters is handed over.

Sources said Haroon has arrived in Pakistan and he would personally attend the meeting. Haroon had been in Canada since the takeover of the PFF headquarters by the Ashfaq Shah group.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2021