POA should consult FIFA in a bid to resolve soccer issue: Aqil

KARACHI: Pakistan Olympic Association’s (POA) vice-president and former senator Syed Aqil Shah on Tuesday said that the government should take initiative to ask POA to consult FIFA in a bid to resolve football issue in the country.
“I will tell you that it’s the time the government takes an initiative to ask POA to talk to FIFA so that the issue could be resolved,” Shah told ‘The News’ from Peshawar in exclusive talks.He was quick to add that in case of any sports dilemma in the country the concerned NOC should be consulted.
“It’s the NOC which is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC talks to the NOCs and federations and not to any other. And you know football is an Olympic sport and FIFA is its international body. The POA can talk to FIFA. So there is a procedure and that should be adopted,” Shah added.
FIFA has suspended Pakistan last month for the third party’s interference. And it has also left a stiff message that unless Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) headquarters in Lahore and its accounts are handed over to the federation suspension would not be lifted.
On the other hand the matter is in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and a hearing in this regard would also be held on Wednesday (today).Because of the conflict between the PFF and its rival group football has seen a long lay-off as since April 2015 Pakistan neither toured abroad, nor it could hold its Premier League which is considered the major source of income for the players of departmental sides which play a major role in the game development.
The POA legal advisor Ali Reza had also given his input on behalf of the NOC in the court’s previous hearing held a few days ago.
After FIFA suspended Pakistan last month the federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Riaz Hussain Pirzada told this correspondent that the state would act after the court’s verdict.
However sources in the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) are of the view that the Board could not play any role in the resolution of football issue.The PFF is no longer affiliated with the PSB and both the bodies have already contested a case in the court which ultimately had been decided.
Football issue is also in the notice of the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the top military leadership. But so far no concrete step has been taken which could help resolve the matter.The Special Senate Committee had also invited on Monday the PFF’s court-appointed administrator Asad Munir who briefed the committee in Islamabad.
About the meetings of Senate Standing Committees and other parliamentary committees Shah said that these would be of no utility unless sports experts are invited.“If you want to discuss a sports issue or decline of sports you should invite sports experts. I have been serving sports in various capacities for the last 40 years. I have been senator and was member of its standing committee for so many years. I am the POA vice-president and president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association. I ask why these committees don’t invite me. They should invite me I will tell them how sports could be developed,” Shah said.
“If you keep the major stakeholders at a distance and don’t invite them then there would be no serious discussion on any sports subject and all such meetings would be futile,” Shah conceded.
Shah, also a former sports minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that sport was a vast subject and only experts could give you a clear idea what should be done.