Pak players, officials yet to get India’s visas

KARACHI: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has asked the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to inform it finally if Pakistan team is going to participate in the Junior World Cup in India, threatening that otherwise it would expel Pakistan from the event, ‘The News’ learnt on Monday.

PHF has not received passports of players and officials that it had submitted for India’s visas two weeks ago, a source said. He said PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed had received an email of FIH, in which it asked PHF to confirm Pakistan’s participation in the Junior World Cup by 5pm on Monday.

The source said Shahbaz had already informed FIH that Pakistan had completed its preparation for participation and that the delay occurred because of India.

PHF is under prssure from the organisers of the event to book rooms in Lucknow for their players and officials, for which a huge amount of money was required.

The PHF was reluctant to book rooms without getting assurance that the players and the officials would get visas.

The source said that the Indian government did not want Pakistan team to participate in the World Cup, but at the same time it wanted to shift responsibility to Pakistan.

The deadline given by FIH was surprising, said a source.

“It is the World Cup, not a regional event. It is FIH’s responsibility to ensure the participation of all affiliated countries,” the source added.

Shahbaz has already said that PHF is keen to participate in the World Cup, as it had been preparing for the event for last one and a half years, and had spent huge money on preparation.  The source said that visas of European teams had been issued.

The FIH’s role in this issue is surprising. Instead of asking the Indian authorities, it was putting pressure on Pakistan, the source said.