LAHORE: Retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, the elected president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, confirmed on Saturday that he has resigned from his post, nearly two months after Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar nominated Tariq Bugti as the country’s hockey chief.

“I have sent my resignation to the prime minister [who is the patron of the PHF],” Khokhar told Dawn, addingt it wasn’t easy to run the federation under the current circumstances.

“We have failed to qualify for a third straight Olympics,” added Khokhar, referring to Pakistan’s failure to qualify for this year’s Games in Paris. “The players [who have gone unpaid for six months] are demanding their dues and it isn’t easy to do anything without the support of the government.”

Khokhar’s admission comes after a tenure of 10 years during which the country’s hockey has sank to an all-time low and after he’d moved the Islamabad High Court against Bugti’s nomination as PHF president.

Sources close to Khokhar have told Dawn that he met Bugti in Islamabad a few days ago, where he asked for a safe exit after leaving his post with the FIA investigating 123 cases of corruption in the PHF raised by the Auditor General of Pakistan offices during the period from 2008 to 2022.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2024