Three candidates emerge for PFF president post

ISLAMABAD: Following the ban imposed on Zahir Shah by the Disciplinary Committee of the PFF’s Normalization Committee (NC), it will be a three-way tie for the post of president of the federation.

At the expiry of deadline -- April 16 midnight for the submission of candidature for the post of president PFF, three candidates have emerged which include Barrister Taha Alizai (backed by Zahir Shah Group), Hafiz Zakaullah (Punjab and supported by Congress members from Sindh) and Mohsin Gilani (supported by part of the government institution).

A strange scenario emerged on the last two days before expiry of the deadline for submission of papers. Most of the departments which are members of Congress were uncertain on their support.

A candidate is only eligible to contest election if he has the support of at least five Congress members. At least four of the departments kept on changing hearts hours after they issued letters of support for one of three candidates.

“Strange things happened within the last two days. At least four of the departments have kept on changing their support once the pressure was exerted from the top. These departments withdrew their first letter and submitted the fresh supporting another one. Such an attitude by these departments serves no good to the game and even tantamount to damaging their reputation. The international bodies have already expressed their concern on the contribution of these departments for football promotion in the country,” a source told The News.

Hafiz Zakaullah is the only candidate of the three that does not have support from any department. In fact all of his five supporters (who second his name) are from the football family.

One of the new entrants into the fray is seeking government support and is currently using all his resources to pressurize departments to vote for him. In fact he is trying to seek Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) support to help him out.

Besides the election of President PFF, other posts to be contested in May 20 elections include President, three Vice Presidents, eight executive members (two from each province), three members from government organizations affiliated with