Lahore High Court to hear football case from tomorrow

KARACHI: Lahore High Court (LHC) has accepted the Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) request for early hearing of the football case and now the double bench will hear the case on Thursday (tomorrow).

A PFF source told ‘The News’ on Tuesday that the double bench comprises LHC Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza.The source said that following FIFA’s suspension warning the PFF had approached the LHC for early hearing of the case.FIFA Member Association Committee has warned if the PFF headquarters in Lahore and its accounts were not handed over to the PFF led by Faisal Saleh Hayat by July 31, 2017, it would recommend to FIFA Council to suspend Pakistan.

It is pertinent to mention here that on February 2, 2017, LHC released its verdict but PFF’s rival group appealed against it. The Supreme Court on April 6, 2017, set aside the LHC double bench decision and sent the case back to the same bench with the instructions to decide it on merit.

Because of the conflict between the FIFA-recognised PFF and its rival group led by Arshad Lodhi, a former PFF Congress member, Pakistan teams have not featured in any international event for the last 26 months.

The domestic league was not held in the last two years. A department has disbanded its side and some sources say that during the last two years most of the departments have not given increment to their players because of their inactivity.