LAHORE, Nov 30: President of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Lt. Gen. (retd.) Arif Hasan said on Friday that he was hoping the long-standing dispute with the govt over the national sports policy will be resolved soon and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not be adopting any harsh measures against Pakistan as it did against India a few weeks ago.

“We will make our utmost efforts to amicably resolve all disputes and sort out the issues with the government over the implementation of the national sports policy so that the IOC does not act harshly against the country as it did in case of the Indian Olympic Committee recently,” said Arif while talking to a delegation of Lahore Sports Journalists Association (LSJA) here on Friday.

In a similar dispute between the POA and the Pakistan govt, the Indian government is also trying to enforce some of the clauses of its national sports policy on their Olympic committee which has drawn a stern warning from thr IOC.

To a question about possible re-elections of POA in the wake of the Lahore High Court orders, Arif said he had not yet received any short or detailed orders of the honourable court in writing.

“Soon after getting the orders of the honourable court, the POA will discuss the future course of action in this regard,” he said.

The LHC had ordered about two months ago that the POA polls be held again with the exception of the president’s post which will not be contested again.

Arif also hoped that all the affiliated units of the POA would take part in the upcoming National Games which are being held by Punjab Olympic Association in Lahore from Dec 22-28.

“We have no news about the boycott of the National Games by any affiliated unit of the POA. Since the National Games are a prestigious event which were originally inaugurated by the Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, every unit takes pride in participating in the event,” he said.

It is feared that due to the current conflict-like situation between the the POA and the govt, some units may opt out of the National Games.—Sports Reporter