LAHORE: Retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, the president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, has decided to take the vote of confidence of the PHF Congress in order to encounter the pressure of the government, which wants him to step down.

The 102-member Congress will gather in Islamabad on Aug 31 to attend the important meeting.

“The Congress meeting of the Pakistan Hockey Federation is scheduled to take place on Aug 31 in Islamabad. Acting upon the directive of PHF president, Retired Brigadier Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, a PHF Congress assembly has been arranged. This assembly will encompass matters such as a vote of confidence and the endorsement of budgetary allocations in its agenda. All members of the PHF Congress are urged to be present at this gathering,” a PHF press release stated on Thursday.

It may be mentioned here that as one year had already passed when the incumbent PHF body was elected in Karachi on Aug 20, 2022, an annual Congress meeting is a constitutional requirement for getting the vote of confidence.

According to sources, if the incumbent body succeeds to get the vote of confidence, it would pave the way to streamline the federation’s relations with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), which has not recognised Brig Khokhar’s election as president. Due to this rift, the PSB is not issuing sufficient funds to the PHF, which requires millions of rupees to meet its annual expenditure. Whereas in the past, the government was a major source of funding for the PHF.

The PSB last year first de-notified Brig Khokhar-led body, then declared it defunct in its books and recently it suspended all PHF officials.

Though in the past Brig Khokhar did not take the government’s dismay seriously, this time he took it seriously when the PSB suspended the entire body.

Though the national sports federations do not accept PSB’s unilateral power to suspend any elected body of the federations who believe that only their general body can remove elected office-bearers.

Brig Khokhar took the decision of getting no-confidence vote hoping that it will help to convince the PSB to continue its support for the national game of hockey. In fact according to a PHF letter issued for the Congress, the federation had accepted the PSB decision to suspend its (PHF’s) officials. In that case, Brig Khokhar may not preside over the Congress meeting until he gets the vote of confidence.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023