Ashfaq-led body hands over PFF office, accounts to normalisation committee

KARACHI: Ashfaq Hussain Shah-led Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Friday handed over the possession of the PFF headquarters and bank accounts to the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee which will start functioning as per the mandate given to it by the world football governing body.

“Yes, today we handed over each and everything to the committee,” Ashfaq Hussain told ‘The News’. “We have handed over the headquarters and around Rs160 million to the NC. PFF had around Rs170 million when we took over and we have used every penny quite carefully,” Ashfaq said.

He said that he was proud that he worked honestly as the PFF chief. “We had cut down most of the expenses and our people mostly were working voluntarily. Our only aim was to work for football development,” said Ashfaq, who got elected last year as the PFF chief in the elections held under the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

FIFA-recognised PFF headed by Faisal Saleh Hayat handed over the PFF headquarters and accounts to the Ashfaq-led body which conducted the last phase of the Premier League and also organised the National Football Challenge Cup at Tehmas Khan Stadium in Peshawar a few months ago.

FIFA recently announced the five-member normalisation committee, which will be headed by chairman Humza Khan, a former Karachi United skipper. The other members of the committee are Sikandar Khattak, Munir Ahmed Khan Sadhana, Syed Hasan Najib Shah and Col Mujahid, who has been appointed as acting secretary.

Ashfaq said that his ExCo and Congress unanimously decided to hand over the possession to the NC. “I am so happy that my ExCo and Congress respected me and reposed their confidence in me by telling me that as I have decided to hand over the possession of the secretariat and bank accounts to NC, they all endorse my decision,” Ashfaq said.

He said that he believed that NC would work honestly and hopefully transparent elections would be held which would usher in a new era of Pakistan football. “During the last few years there had been no football, only politics. I have no personal interest. I wanted to work for the sport, for the players, for the officials,” Ashfaq said. “I did that and I intend to continue doing that.”