KARACHI, Feb 20: Brushing aside directives from Sindh Boxing Association (SBA), the Karachi West Boxing Association (KWBA) has also elected new office-bearers, saying it is not under obligation to follow instructions from the provincial body which does not even exist.
The KWBA has elected Syed Badshah Khan as the chairman, Ali Akbar Shah the president and Khawaja Javaid the secretary, although SBA through a letter dated Jan 19, 2007 had asked all 12 districts not to hold elections before National Games in Karachi.
SBA secretary had claimed that in a meeting with the Sindh Sports Board (SSB) officials, it was decided to hold district elections soon after the National Games.
Newly-elected KWBA secretary Ali Akbar says his association was not under the influence of SBA, to which it is affiliated, since all the officials including president Shakeel Durrani and secretary Akram have no legal right to work in their respective capacities.
“Why should we listen to people and a body which has no legal status? All the officials of the SBA including Shakeel Durrani and Akram Khan are occupying their offices illegally. The reason for this is that the SBA elections were due in August 2006 but they are yet to take place. So what is the legal position of the secretary who is asking not to hold the elections?” asked the KWBA official.
Akbar said it was indeed the first time in the history of Pakistan boxing that fair and free elections of any boxing body were held.
“It is the first time that boxing bodies are holding their own elections without interference and influence. Officials have always been selected by those sitting at the top in the Pakistan Boxing Federation. But not anymore. Now we will elect, not select people,” Akbar said.
The KWBA secretary claimed that it was SSB which gave grants to districts not the SBA. “Since SBA only wants to have votes from favourites in the districts, it is SSB which gives us grants. Therefore, we were not supposed to inform the SBA about the elections. We had informed the SSB that we will hold elections and it gave us a go-ahead.”
Akbar said since there was no guarantee that National Games would be held according to the date announced, the KWBA couldn’t have waited for the Games.
“The KWBA elections were scheduled in 2005. How long we should have waited. People who claim to be officials of SBA might have planned to oblige people by appointing them as officials during the Games before installing them as officials of district associations to get votes at provincial and national levels”
The official contended if SBA president and secretary had authority then why its senior vice-president Abid Hussain Brohi defied provincial body and became a part of the Karachi South Boxing Association (KSBA) after being recently elected KSBA president.On Feb 10, KSBA had also held it elections despite repeated warnings by SBA. The SBA had clearly warned KSBA that elections prior to National Games would not be acceptable.
Soon after the polls, KSBA secretary Asghar Baloch had claimed that the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) chairman Anwar Chowdhry and secretary Shakeel wanted time to rig elections by selecting not electing the officials.
KWBA office-bearers: Syed Badshah Khan (chairman), Ali Akbar Shah (president), Ishaq Baloch, Abdul Majeed Brohi, Abdul Wahab Askani, Abdul Aziz (vice-presidents), Khawaja Javaid (secretary), Saleh Muhammad (joint secretary), Abdul Khaliq Baloch (treasurer), Kousar Sadiq (press secretary), Sher Muhammad, Abid Ali, Rasheed Baloch, Manzoor Ahmad, Edverd D’ Souza, Mustafa Shah, Fida Hussain and Atif Shah (executive committee members).