ISLAMABAD - Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) ministry is likely to impose an ad-hoc setup on the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) as well as other federations.
The reliable sources inside the IPC and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) on condition of anonymity have confirmed to this scribe on Wednesday that after strong recommendations were made to IPC Minister Syed Riaz Hussain Pirzada to impose ad-hoc on the PHF, the ministry is likely to impose an ad-hoc on the hockey federation after the dismal show of the national team in the 9th Asia Cup Hockey 2013 due to which the green shirts failed to qualify for the World Cup 2014.
The sources said PHF secretary Asif Bajwa’s decision of tendering his resignation was unexpected as earlier, he had denied on number of occasion to submit his resignation after the devastating performances of the national team. It was also surprising that PHF president Qasim Zia accepted Bajwa’s resignation without wasting any time and appointed one of his highly close aides as the federation new secretary.
The sources have further said that the IPC and the PSB were thinking on same lines since long but political pressure in the previous government was the main reason behind delay in imposing or even suggesting an ad-hoc on the PHF. Now things have changed with the arrival of new government and a strict minister in shape of Riaz Pirzada, the top brass of the had realised that their days are numbered so despite being politically very well connected, Asif Bajwa was left with no other option but to quit one of the top slots of the PHF.
The sources said Asif had tendered resignation through a deal. “There is huge possibility he might be once again install on the same post under new set up due to his deep political connections,” they added.
The sources said: “The PHF fresh elections are very much on the cards, but it has been decided in principle that an ad-hoc body should be installed for the time being and they must have powers to run the day-to-day affairs of the PHF well and hold the elections in a fair and transparent way.”
Earlier, the IPC minister indicated that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had taken strong notice of Pakistan hockey team's poor show in the Asia Cup, which was the last hope for the green shirts to earn a place in the next year’s Hockey World Cup to be held in Netherlands, but despite making tall claims like past, Akhtar Rasool and company failed to accomplish the task.
The sources revealed that now the file was very much lying with the minister and now it was up to him how much time he took to implement the decision.
When this scribe contacted PSB Director General Syed Amir Hamza Gilani to seek his point of view, he neither confirmed nor denied the move. The DG said: “Lot of things are going on these days. The axe will soon fall on some other federations as well because we have been warning them time and again to keep their house in order and implement the Supreme Court orders and government sports policy regarding holding of office for the third term in true letter and spirit but all our suggestions fall on deaf ears. Now the ball is in IPC minister’s court so let see what happens next.”