NAB body holds meeting to check corruption in sports

KARACHI: National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) prevention committee which has been formed to check corruption in sports, particularly in Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), held its first meeting at its headquarters in Islamabad on Wednesday with Imtiaz Tajwar in the chair.

Those who attended the meeting included Pakistan Sports Board’s (PSB) Director General Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Fayyaz-ul-Haq, Athletics Federation of Pakistan’s (AFP) president Major General Akram Sahi, former secretary of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) and former captain Col Mujahid Tareen and Directors Sports of provinces.

Former hockey Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh did not attend the meeting. ‘The News’ learnt that the letters which had been sent to the committee members said the committee had been formed for “prevention of corruption in sports”.

But insiders said that the head of the committee, a former hockey player, did not mention anything with clarity about corruption in the meeting. They said the meeting mainly discussed sports development in Pakistan and the issues impeding their progress.

Ganjera in his presentation highlighted various aspects of the PSB, its working mechanism and its status as one of the key stakeholders in Pakistan’s sports. He said that the PSB is not everything but is one of the stakeholders.

Sahi asked the head of the committee about its mandate and the terms of reference. He was told that the basic purpose of the first meeting was to get input of all the members. ToRs would be framed afterwards, he was informed.

Sahi told the committee that nothing was being done for the promotion of sports. He said that the Asian Games would be held next year but nobody has talked about its preparatory camps.He said camps were begun only when media started reporting that the camps for Asiad had not been started.

He said all major stakeholders of Pakistan’s sports lacked in good governance. Col Mujahid, whose era as PFF’s secretary is regarded as one of the best, spoke in detail about basic ills in Pakistan’s sports. He also talked about youth development.

This correspondent tried several times to reach Imtiaz Tajwar on his cell phone but he did not receive the calls. This correspondent learnt that the NAB had kept sending its people to the PSB headquarters throughout this year.