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KARACHI While the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Asif Bajwa was exonerated on Friday by a National Assembly probe team from human trafficking charges, Olympian Naveed Alam says the case has been closed because of political pressure.
Although the chairman of the National Assemblys Standing Committee on Sports, Jamshaid Dasti, had formed a five-member sub-committee to probe into the human smuggling allegations, only two members announced the decision.
The sub-committees head Ramesh Lal and a member, Naseer Bhutta, announced the decision in Islamabad after what they said was an 'investigation' into the human trafficking scandal.
However, absence of committee members - Iqbal Mohammad Khan, Masood Perveen and Ahmad Yar - was conspicuous. One fails to understand as to how only two out of five members can absolve the PHF official of such serious charges.
'Todays sub-committees meeting and decision was nothing but a joke. How can the verdict of two out of a five member committee be accepted? I must say the case has been closed due to political pressure and the PHF president Qasim Zia is involved in it,' Naveed told Dawn.com on Friday.
Jamshaid has categorically said that he had been receiving phone calls from different quarters asking him to give favour to Asif and even the PHF chief, who is the Pakistan Peoples Party leader in Punjab, rang him up to sought favour.
'The two committee members said they have closed the case as they didnt find any evidence against Bajwa, Mansoor and me as the documents were not original. But there were several documents which should have been probed. The committee members were told to probe the matter themselves as we (Naveed and Mansoor) were not investigation agency. But the MNAs didnt pay heed,' said Naveed.
Former Pakistan goalkeeper Mansoor Ahmad had accused Asif of misusing his authority by applying for German visas for his wife and son and an unknown person posing him as journalist, while Naveed had levelled charges of human smuggling on the PHF secretary, saying he had sent people to Italy.
Both, Naveed and Mansoor, were banned for life by PHF Executive Board on July 17 for accusing the secretary of human smuggling, without being given a chance to explain themselves. Asif had accused Mansoor of securing US visas without PHFs approval to take part in a tournament, while Naveed was charged with financial irregularities and forging the receipts during the European tour when he was the coach.
'We were not called for the meeting. We just reached Islamabad reading the date of the meeting in newspapers. No agenda was provided to us. We even gave the names and passport numbers of the seven people who went along with Bajwa to Italy in September 2008 and never returned. But the committee members were not ready to listen to us,' said Naveed.
According to Naveed, seven individuals sent to Italy were Irfan Mahmood, Khan Abid, Mohammad Asad, Anwar Muhammad Ali, Sagheer Muhammad, Iftikhar Muhammad, Mujahid Hussain Shah.
'We had provided these details, now it was the job of probe committee to trace these people and find if they are in the country or have gone abroad. But they didn't bother to do it. I believe Olympian Shafqat Maliks brother Arshad Muhammad has also vanished in Italy. No sports federation can apply for visas for anybody without the No Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Sports. Then how and why could Bajwa apply for German visas for his wife, son and others?' asked Naveed.
The Olympian said he would have a talk with Jamshaid to seek justice and would move court if proper investigation was not done.
Interestingly, the two sub-committee members didnt focus on Malik Ahtisham Zahid who was mentioned by Asif as his child, PHF official and a journalist in different documents to the German consulate in Karachi and German hockey federation.
Apart from his wife and son, the PHF secretary had applied for the German visas for three individuals for the participation in Hamburg Masters in 2008. While the two were genuine journalists, Ahtishams identity as a media person could not be established which has made the whole issue intriguing and mysterious.
Jamshaid had vowed to put the culprit (s) behind bars if found guilty, saying he would not accept pressure from any quarter.
The decision to close the case, or rather one should say hush up the matter, is certainly strange since several questions have been left unanswered, especially in presence of documents which could lead to more revelations if investigated sincerely.
Jamshaid was, however, not available for his comments.
