LAHORE, Sept 15: While the Sept 15 deadline for Pakistan government to remove the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reservations about the sanctity of its charter and the Olympic Movement in the country passed on Saturday, no stakeholder came forward to confirm whether a formal reply has been sent to the IOC in this regard.

Efforts to make contact with Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) director-general Amir Hamza Gillani bore no fruit, while Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan said he had not received any information about the government’s reply to the IOC.

The IOC had asked the PSB to remove some of the controversial clauses of its rules dictated to the national sports federations which interfere with the IOC charter.

Furthermore, the international body also refused to accept any enforcement on the part of the PSB to restrict key office-bearers of the national sports federations to two terms in office.

Instead, the IOC’s stance is that it is up to the general body of every federation to decide about the tenure of their key officials.

The IOC had also made efforts to resolve the matter by arranging a joint meeting of the government and the POA at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on June 4, making its stance clear to the government representatives.

IOC’s Sept 15 deadline was also part of the effort of the international body to resolve issues between the government and the POA. The international body has also intimated that if the government doesn’t accept the IOC terms and conditions, it could take severe action including suspension of Pakistan’s Olympic membership.

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