ISLAMABAD: The legendary Shahbaz Ahmed Senior on Thursday requested Interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar to look into the affairs of the national game with a tug of war between the Pakistan Hockey Federation and former players seeing the game suffer badly.

Speaking to Dawn after the PHF Congress meeting here faced a ruckus, Shahbaz said timely elections were much needed.

“It is my humble request to PM to intervene and look into the affairs of hockey...enough is enough,” he said. “We’re facing one embarrassment after the other with each passing day.”

Shhabaz, along with other Olympians namely Akhtar Rasool, Rana Mujahid, Khawaja Junaid, Tahir Zaman and Kamran Ashraf, was present at a local hotel where the Congress meeting was held to decide the fate of the no-confidence motion against PHF secretary Haider Hussain.

But their group, in opposition, boycotted the meeting as they claimed the PHF had tampered the records and added new congress members. Headed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association president Zahir Shah, they raised slogans against the PHF chief retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and Haider.

It forced Khokhar to wrap up the meeting with a tense situation developing. The fate of the no-confidence motion remained undecided.

“It’s unfortunate that the PHF management is violating the constitution by illegally replacing congress members to have more people in their favour,” rued Shahbaz.

Rana Mujahid, a member of the PHF Congress, claimed that the opposition had 60 members out of 92 “but the PHF management forcefully stopped them for attending the meeting”.

“When the opposition members tried to enter the meeting room, the PHF President to avoid defeat, cancelled the meeting abruptly,” he added.

Khokhar did not immediately respond to a request for comment but a statement issued by PHF stated that the “Extraordinary meeting was cancelled”.

“Forty-seven members in favour of PHF secretary Haider Hussain attended the meeting but those who had submitted the motion raised reservations and boycotted the meeting and therefore PHF president cancelled the meeting,” it said.

Rana Mujahid challenged the statement. “It’s a pack of lies,” he said, “if there were 47 members in favour then why did they cancel the meeting?”

The PHF is under fire from the government with the Pakistan Sports Board having suspended all office-bearers of the country’s hockey governing body on Aug 16 to ensure fair and transparent elections.

The PHF, meanwhile, claims that the PSB cannot intervene in its matters as it is an autonomous body affiliated with the Inter­national Hockey Federa­tion (FIH) and the Pakis­tan Olympic Association.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2023