IT has been two decades since the National Sports Policy was introduced but its implementation leaves much to be desired. On Friday, the Pakistan Sports Board issued a warning to five sports federations, whose officials have held positions beyond two permissible terms. The officials exceeding their tenure include the president, secretary and treasurer of the Pakistan Baseball Federation, the presidents and secretaries of the taekwondo and judo federations, and the secretaries of the sailing and karate federations. The federations have been warned that if the violations are not addressed within a month, they would be declared non-compliant, resulting in, among other things, the loss of government grants.

The situation is not new. For years, the PSB has struggled to assert control, especially since the 18th Amendment devolved powers to the provinces and curtailed its authority. The sports policy, meanwhile, remains an option rather than the norm for federations. Those reliant on government support adhere to it, while others do not, saying it invites official interference. Globally, term limits are meant to improve governance but recently, the adviser on inter-provincial-provincial coordination, Rana Sanaullah, claimed that sports federations here had become parking spaces for retirees. He stressed on institutional reforms — which the PSB has focused on. Last month, the sports body held elections of three federations. Those polls came after the PSB amended its constitution, forming a commission to hold elections of national federations. This goes against the International Olympic Committee Charter, which restricts government intervention in sports federations. PSB director general Yasir Pirzada clarified that any intervention will be limited to resolving disputes in a federation. Nevertheless, there is a pressing need for a uniform policy across all federations. Just as India has introduced a new policy aimed at making it a leading sporting nation, it is time the PSB, too, gathered all federations, sports officials and athletes and formulated a new sports policy to define our sporting future.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2025