KARACHI: Three groups have emerged which plan to field their own candidates in the Pakistan Boxing Federation’s (PBF) elections which are due by December 20 this year.
However, sources say that it will not be easy to hold the elections on time due to several legal issues.
The presence of parallel bodies in all the four provinces has complicated the issue. The previous PBF elections, held in 2012, in which Doda Khan Bhutto retained the presidency had also come under fire as sources at that time claimed that the elections had not been held. However the elected body in those elections was later recognised by the world boxing governing body (AIBA), which is still working.
According to sources, English boxer Amir Khan’s father Shajjad Khan, who was also interested in contesting elections, has decided to stay away from the electoral process.
“Amir has stopped him (Shajjad) from contesting the PBF elections,” a well-informed source told this correspondent.
Sources said that the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) wanted to bring in its secretary Khalid Mehmood as PBF secretary while it is looking for a suitable person who can agree to contest for the presidency.
Khalid, who is serving as president of one of the Punjab Boxing Associations (PBA), has already worked in the capacity of secretary of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) before he was elected POA secretary.
Former PBF secretary Mohammad Akram Khan wants to bring in Velo Company’s chief executive Salman Islam as the Federation’s chief. Salman is an influential person and his company, manufacturing sports equipment, is registered with AIBA.
Sources did not confirm for which post Akram would contest. Akram, groomed by former AIBA chief Professor Anwar Chaudhry, has served as PBF secretary with Doda Bhutto during 2008-12 tenure. However in 2012, deep differences had been evolved between Doda and Akram. Both levelled allegations of corruption and human smuggling against each other and some cases are still pending in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Sources said that the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had been backing Akram’s group who has some professional people like former international referee/judge Ali Akbar Shah in his fold.
Sources also revealed that Doda wants to bring in Sindh Boxing Association’s (SBA) secretary Asghar Baloch as PBF secretary.
It is still not known who is going to be the candidate for the presidency from Doda group as Doda himself is not eligible to contest the elections because he has already served for two four-year tenures in the capacity.
Sources also said that Doda was interested in the chairmanship of the Federation for which he will have to amend the PBF constitution by creating a portfolio for chairman as some other national federations have already done it.
Doda’s relations with the current PBF secretary Iqbal Hussain have not been good for the last one year. And it was Iqbal who had been seen running the PBF during their strained relations which also deprived Pakistan of booking any berth for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Sources close to Iqbal said that he was no longer interested in contesting the elections for any PBF post.
A source said that Doda had called Iqbal a few days ago, expressing his desire to meet him (Iqbal) so that a plan could be devised for elections.
The PSB does not recognise Doda-led PBF and on its website the Board has mentioned that the boxing federation is defunct because it has violated the national sports policy.
However, the PBF claims that it has incorporated the tenure-restriction clause of the national sports policy in its constitution but the PSB rejects any such notion.
Sources say that AIBA is aware of Pakistan’s boxing affairs and it has decided to send its observer for the upcoming elections so that transparency can be ensured.
Because of the various issues, Pakistan’s boxing has been facing severe loss for the last few years. Pakistan last featured in the 2004 Athens Olympics and since then the country has been fighting for an Olympic slot.
Last time national boxers were fielded in the world qualifying round for the Rio Olympics held in the Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. Since then they have been out of action which is affecting their careers.
