‘Parallel bodies issue to end in a few days’

KARACHI: The government is committed to dispose off the issue of parallel federations and other related pressing matters within the next few days, a top official of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) said on Friday.
“We are trying to end the whole affair, particularly of the parallel bodies, in the next 10 to 15 days,” IPC secretary Chaudhry Mohammad Ijaz told ‘The News’ from Islamabad.
“The parallel bodies issue is very important and now we are in a position to close this chapter,” he said.
Ijaz took the initiative to hold a constructive dialogue with the International Olympic Committee (IPC) last year to prevent the country’s sports from further damage.
This correspondent has learnt that Lahore High Court (LHC) has instructed the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to itself decide which five federations having parallel bodies are genuine and submit its final order before the court within a fortnight.
Taekwondo, volleyball, table tennis, gymnastics and weightlifting have parallel bodies.
A source in the PSB said that the Board had had a meeting with the federations of weightlifting, volleyball and taekwondo. A meeting with the federations of table tennis and gymnastics would be held soon, he said. The source said that after the meeting the Board would submit its final report about the genuine federations before the LHC.
A PSB official said that following a positive dialogue with the IOC the Board had announced that it would support only those federations which were affiliated with the International Federations (IFs).
In June 2014, the IPC ministry issued an order stating that presidents, secretaries and treasurers of federations would not serve for more than two four-year tenures. The federations were asked to amend their constitutions according to the national sports policy and submit the copies of their amended constitutions before the PSB, but only 22 federations out of 39 affiliated with the PSB have submitted the copies of their amended constitutions.
The IPC Ministry has warned the remaining federations that if they do not submit copies of amended constitutions their affiliation with the PSB will be cancelled.
Ijaz said the ministry will not make any relaxation. “We have been seeing this for the last one and a half years.
The whole nation has suffered due to their attitude,” Ijaz said.
However, he was quick to add that if any federation was really serious to follow instructions it could be given some more time.
About the possession of the POA office, Ijaz said he had written three letters to the Punjab government, stating that the house should be handed over to the genuine body. “We also sent its copies to the IOC,” said Ijaz, a former chief secretary of Sindh.
He said he had also offered the IOC-recognised POA that if it wanted to open its office in Islamabad it could be facilitated.