PFF secretary says administrator’s information not based on facts

Our correspondent

KARACHI: Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) secretary Col Ahmed Yar Lodhi in a letter to the convener of the Senate Special Standing Committee on National Sports Federations has said that some of the information provided by the PFF administrator and IPC minister to the committee in its meeting on November 20 were not based on facts.

“The PFF’s administrator had tried to mislead the committee by giving two reasons which led to PFF suspension by FIFA (i) PFF has been suspended by FIFA due to third party’s interference (ii) both the groups of Faisal Saleh Hayat and Zahir Ali Shah had recently sent their respective teams to take part in an international event in Kuwait,” the letter written to Ashok Kumar said.

“The IPC minister also tried to mislead the committee by telling it that the government did not interfere in the affairs of PFF and a certain mafia is working in FIFA and we have to look for our interest and follow our own laws. The minister further stated as have been known through media reports that the PFF led by Faisal is using FIFA funds for making heavy payments of legal fee to their legal counsels,” the letter said.

Lodhi wrote that the statement of the administrator that both the PFF groups sent two national teams to an international event in Kuwait is factually incorrect and baseless.

The letter said that FIFA had taken the appointment of Justice Asad Munir as PFF administrator by Lahore High Court (LHC) as a third party interference which FIFA had already pointed out in its letter dated 25 September 2015 and a reply to Asad’s letter where he requested for funds and FIFA categorically replied by saying that it did not recognize the administrator.

“Moreover, FIFA, vide its letter dated 10 Oct, 2017, has suspended PFF due to the appointment of PFF administrator by LHC and allowing him to operate the PFF accounts which is taken by FIFA as a clear violation of article 14 and 19 of FIFA statutes, according to which no third party interference is admissible in the affairs of their member associations,” the letter said. The letter further stated that the IPC minister’s statement that the government did not interfere in the PFF affairs is absolutely wrong and can be clearly understood from the background given below:- 

“The PFF elections for the tenure 2015-19 were scheduled to be held on 30th June 2015 at Changla Gali by an independent electoral committee in the presence of AFC/FIFA representative. “On 4th April 2015, three months before the PFF elections, DG Sports Board Punjab, Usman Anwar, held a meeting with the General Secretary PFF and conveyed the following:-

“In the coming PFF elections, it has been decided at the highest level of the federal government that the next president of PFF will be Capt (retd) Safdar, son-in-law of the Prime Minister. Moreover the letter said that “FIFA stopped funding PFF immediately after the appointment of administrator by LHC who also gave him the control of PFF bank accounts and PFF headquarters.”