Political figure behind attempt to stop Javed?

Heading Pakistan contingent

KARACHI: A highly credible source on Wednesday claimed that a top Punjab government functionary was behind the removal of the name of Shaukat Javed from the Pakistan’s Olympic contingent that reached Brazil on Tuesday.

Javed, a former Punjab Inspector General Police (IGP), was to head the national contingent as chef de mission as per the recommendation of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).

The source said that Javed had some differences with the functionary of the Punjab government a few years ago when he was the IGP. And that created the problem, the source said.

Javed, who holds a senior position in baseball federation, moved to Rio de Janeiro despite the government’s late announcement about him.

As per the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the decision of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) cannot be overruled in the appointment of chef de mission.

The Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) was forced to issue a letter to the PSB on August 1 which was without the name of Javed.

Javed denied having any row with the PSB, IPC or any other body when this correspondent approached him after his name was removed.

The source said that Javed could not be stopped from becoming part of the march-past at the Olympic ceremony on August 5 in Rio because of the international obligations.

“The IOC can even garland Javed. And you know the IOC rules. It doesn’t tolerate any government’s interference in the affairs of its units,” the source said.

The decision was taken at a time when Pakistan’s contingent was preparing to depart for Rio from Lahore.

Javed was also part of the delegation which was extended a reception at the Brazilian embassy in Islamabad recently.

In 2010 the PSB had removed the name of Mohammad Shafiq as chef de mission from the list of the contingent which was leaving for Dhaka to feature in the South Asian Games.

Being a government employee Shafiq decided not to proceed to Bangladesh.

An 18-member Pakistan’s contingent has reached Rio, which is set to host the prestigious extravaganza from August 5-21.

The seven players who will represent Pakistan are swimmers Haris Bandey and Lianna Swan, shooters Ghulam Mustafa Bashir and Minhal Sohail, judoka Shah Hussain and athletes Najma Parveen and Mehboob Ali.

They will return on August 22. This is Pakistan’s smallest-ever contingent in Olympics as the country did not qualify for the hockey event — for the first time in history.

No national athlete directly qualified for Rio. All of them are featuring on the basis of different quotas.

And only judoka Shah is expected to win a bout or two. The rest will only fight with themselves because of their low standard in the world in their respective disciplines.