Ashfaq elected as PFF president

KARACHI: With FIFA-recognised Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) staying away, Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was on Wednesday elected as President of PFF for tenure yet to be known.

According to Punjab Football Association (PFF) chief and the newly-elected PFF vice-president Sardar Naveed Haider, the actual mandate of the newly-elected body will be known through notification which will be issued on Thursday (today).

This correspondent learnt that all those candidates who had link with the FIFA-recognised PFF did not attend the meeting.The electoral process was conducted by the Supreme Court-appointed Returning Officer Amir Salim Rana. Pakistan Sports Board’s (PSB) representative Raja Zulfiqar also witnessed the electoral process held at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad.

FIFA, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) were also requested to send their observers but they stayed away of the process.Ashfaq, brother-in-law of Syed Zahir Shah, got 17 votes out of 20, while his rival Anwar-ul-Haq Qureshi claimed three votes.

Malik Amir Dogar, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA from Multan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Football Association’s chief Syed Zahir Shah and Naveed Haider got elected as vice-presidents.The nomination papers of these three had been rejected by the RO a few days ago as they fell short of the criteria mentioned in the PFF Constitution.

Dogar got 20 votes out of 20, while Shah and Naveed claimed 18 votes each. Balochistan and Sindh did not participate in the elections. Before the PFF elections, the election of three women was held. According to details, Farzana Rauf (Lahore), a PTI MNA from Khushab Javeria Zafar and Islamabad’s Young Rising Star head coach Tasawar Aziz were elected on these seats. These three women members of Congress then participated in the PFF elections.

Those who were elected as members of the PFF ExCo include: Nasir Karim and Jamil Ahmed (Sindh), Rana Ashraf, Mian Rizwan Ali (Punjab), Said Rasool and Zulfiqar Ahmed (KP), Azizullah and Dost Mohammad Khan (Balochistan).

Naveed Haider said that according to RO the football headquarters would be handed over to the newly-elected body within three days.He said that FIFA-recognised PFF secretary Col Lodhi requested RO to give them one month time but RO bluntly said that it was not possible.

However, he was quick to add that the notification will make it clear on Thursday (today).Naveed, who is expected to play a key role in the post-election process, said that the secretary will be appointed after a deep deliberation with all the key stakeholders.

It is also expected that Naveed, a former ally of the PFF chief Faisal Saleh Hayat, will be appointed as secretary .Naveed said that FIFA and AFC will be requested to send their fact-finding mission to Pakistan and dig out the actual ailment behind the current situation.

He also pledged that the newly-elected PFF will consult all playing teams of the Premier League in order to decide the fate of the country’s top event.“We will sit with all the teams playing in the Premier League and will take their input. If they want to continue the league we will try to ensure that because they have spent millions of rupees on preparation and other matters for the league,” Naveed said.

Few days ago, FIFA had hinted that if the court-ordered PFF elections were held, Pakistan may face sanctions. Last year too FIFA had imposed sanctions on Pakistan due to third party interference. The ban was lifted early this year after court restored PFF.

The conflict between PFF and its rival group which now has succeeded in forming a new body has already wasted three crucial years of Pakistan’s football.Pakistan team are in Doha to prepare for next year’s international events including Olympic qualifiers and World Cup qualifiers.