KARACHI, Jan 3: Saleem Nazim, the associate secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Monday appealed to the president-designate to invite all the elected members for Wednesday's Council meeting and ask the secretary the reason of sport's decline despite having Rs35.5m in kitty during past four years.

The PHF official, who is under fire from PHF for being a strong critic of secretary Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan's policies, in a statement urged newly-named PHF president Tariq Kirmani to intervene into the sorry state of affairs and ensure that all the elected members were invited to the meeting in Lahore.

"It never happened during 58-year history of Pakistan hockey that favourites who are not even elected were allowed to sit at the Congress and Council meetings held on Dec 28 last year.

I request the new PHF chief to make sure that all the elected members are invited so he could have an idea what has happened during the past four years," he said.

Saleem said how the affairs were being run could be gauged from the fact that he was not invited for the previous meeting, although he had been elected for a four-year term and he requested the secretary to send an official invitation.

The official said the new president could only work for the betterment of the game by the feedback he would get from the hockey experts. "If the president gets one-sided briefing by the secretary, things would not change and it will be a one-man show.

He must consult the aggrieved parties too if he really wants this game to proper. Hockey had already suffered a lot as people did not have access to the former president Gen Aziz Khan."

Saleem said Pakistan could win nothing since 2000 be it two Olympics, World Cup, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, or four Champions Trophy tournaments. "We could not win a single major title despite PHF having 35 crores in its kitty during past four years.

It was strange that the account statement the secretary provided at the previous Congress meeting was not even signed by the approved chartered accountants. This is the first time such a document was provided to the house since 1947," he said.

Saleem, also the suspended secretary of the Punjab Hockey Association (PHA), said he should be given a hearing on his pending appeal since the former president did not pay heed.

"According to PHF constitution's article 27, I should have been given a hearing by the president in this case. I hope justice will be done by the new PHF chief."