NA body may issue arrest warrants for officials of NC, AFP

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) could issue arrest warrants for the officials of PFF’s Normalisation Committee (NC) and Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) in case they fail to appear in the next meeting of the standing committee.

NA Committee chairman Nawab Sher Waseer and members took strong notice of the absence of members of the NC from the meeting as well as AFP officials including AFP president Maj Gen (r) Akram Sahi.

“We cannot tolerate such behaviour on the part of the AFP and FIFA NC. We have the powers to issue the arrest warrants. We can take this extreme measure if these officials fail to appear before the committee in the next meeting,” he said.

NA body chairman told the members that he had received a call from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Managing Committee head Najam Sethi who expressed his regret over not attending the meeting due to the PSL Trophy’s unveiling in Lahore.

“There has been no communication from the NC Chairman or members of the AFP.

The NC just sent their legal notice which is not acceptable at all. This is a serious offense which tantamount to extreme measures which we could take.”

Minister for IPC Ehsanur Rehman Mazari told the members that NC did not look serious to honour their promise of holding elections by March 2023.

“The NC had given their commitment to hold the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) election by March 2023 but the committee has not taken any concrete steps so far.

“There are no signs that they would stand by their promise. I have met with the Asian football president recently and told him to ensure a timely PFF election. We would go to any extent to ensure PFF elections at earliest.

This is a matter of country’s prestige. NC’s prime objective was to hold an election which they haven’t done so far. We have almost $ 16 million pending with FIFA which would only be released to the democratically elected federation.”

Members of the NA Committee, especially Rubina Irfan (the former head of women football in the country) came down harshly on the NC's reluctance to hold football elections.

“I was the one who was approached by the concerned team to send the women’s team to Saudi Arabia, which I communicated to NC and stressed on them to ensure the women team’s participation.

It was nothing new for me as I have been helping women teams travel abroad since 2000.

But it was strange that the women team’s selection was not done on merit and a few players holding US Passport were allowed to represent the country. Such a tournament is only meant for the local Pakistan players.”

Rubina added that the NC chairman and members are getting huge salaries. “Furnish details of the salaries and other perks and privileges of these members. It is members’ right to know as to why the NC has failed to give a clear roadmap for the PFF election. A foreign passport holder is heading the NC and visits the country off and on.”

When the NC legal representative refused to share NC members’ salaries, perks and privileges, members got furious and demanded details in the next meeting.

“How much you are paying to national players and how much the NC members have set aside for themselves, we need details,” Rubina added.

She also demanded PFF elections at the earliest. “This football federation is not meant for Lahore and Karachi only. The NC has been there for the last four years now.

The PFF needs representation from Balochistan, KPK and other parts of the country and this NC is depriving all.”

Mazari said that the AFP official’s plan to contest the elections for the third time would not be allowed.

“We will not allow any federation including AFP president Akram Sahi to contest AFP president elections for a third time as there is a provision for two tenures only. We have learned that he is planning to contest election for the third tenure which will not be allowed.”