ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan is reverting back to the structure that saw it deliver its greatest sporting triumphs.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Thursday that he was reversing the decision of the previous government to stop public departments, corporations and autonomous bodies from funding sports teams.

That move by Imran Khan’s government to put an end to the departmental structure and transition towards a regional system had rendered many sportsmen jobless but was never fully implemented.

PM Shehbaz announced his decision at a ceremony in the honour of Pakistan’s medal winners at the recent Commo­nwealth Games in England and the Islamic Solidarity Games in Turkey at the Prime Minister Office.

“I’m lifting the ban so that competitions can be revived between departments,” Mr Sharif said at the ceremony. “It will be a healthy move that will help our youngsters to excel in the field of sports.”

The decision was welcomed by a loud applause by the athletes present at the ceremony, including Arshad Nadeem, who won gold medals in the javelin at both the events, and Commonwealth Games weightlifting gold medallist Nooh Dastagir Butt.

After taking over as the country’s prime minister, Shehbaz had pledged that he would restore the departmental sports structure.

Athletes in Pakistan have for long relied on departmental jobs to take care of their financial matters in order to concentrate on sports but in September last year, the previous government had announced that it was discontinuing funding to departmental sports teams of various government agencies and corporations and would instead utilise that funding for promotion of regional sports teams.

It had set a final date of April 6 this year for ending the departmental sports structure as well as introducing a new sports policy, only for the government to be toppled after No-Confidence vote in the very same month.

That change had already taken place in cricket in 2019 when departmental cricket had been abolished to make way for six regional teams in the domestic circuit which included two teams from Punjab, one from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal Areas.

The move had discouraged several departments from investing in sports teams with several of them also discontinuing other teams apart from cricket as well.

Pakistan’s athletes who won medals at the Commonwealths in Birmingham and the Islamic Games in Konya had already appealed for the revival of the departmental structure.

“Our medal winners have made the country proud and are an inspiration for our youth,” PM Shehbaz said during the ceremony where he also distributed cash prizes.

The premier also promised that steps would be taken to hold sporting events at college and university levels to provide maximum channels to youth to excel in sports.

ROAD TO REVERSAL

The decision to restore the departmental sports structure was widely hailed but hockey great Manzoor-ul-Hasan Senior urged the government to do that in letter and spirit by “binding all the government departments, private banks and others, who have shut down their departments in the past to resume working forthwith”.

“Many banks, after being privatised had closed their sports departments despite making millions in profit,” the former Olympian told Dawn. “Moreover, there is a dire need to improve the sports infrastructure.”

Several sports federations in the country also welcomed the government’s decision but it was immediately unclear if the Pakistan Cricket Board would bring back the departmental teams into its fold.

Since the PCB shifted to a regional system, the Movement for Restoration of Departmental Cricket has been protesting the decision in vain.

Former members of the PCB Board of Governors Nauman Butt and Shakil Sheikh had been leading the MRDC and the latter said on Thursday that for the PCB constitution would have to be amended to enforce the government’s decision.

“The government would have to take necessary steps by making changes in the PCBs constitution,” he told Dawn.

Nauman, meanwhile, said that the decision of the previous government had “served nothing” but added that the damage caused to the players would now be undone.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2022