Committees appointed to run football affairs in three provinces

KARACHI: FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee for Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Monday announced Normalisation Committees for three provinces whose composition has raised many eyebrows.

According to various sources the PFF NC has continued showing bias. They said the composition of the committees announced for Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa showed partiality which would invite intense reaction from the stakeholders in these provinces.

Interestingly, KP Football Association’s former secretary Basit Kamal has been put in the KP NC. Azmatullah, Ijaz Khan, Mohammad Saeed and Mohammad Imran are the other members of the KP FA’s NC.

KP FA’s former president Syed Zahir Shah heads a group and is likely to be a candidate for the PFF’s presidency in the elections which will be conducted by the PFF NC as per FIFA’s instructions. That is the main reason that Basit’s appointment has sparked reaction.

“I had been appointed by the PFF in 2012 as KP secretary. And when Zahir Shah’s relations with former PFF chief Faisal Saleh Hayat soured I kept sending teams of KP to various events,” Basit told ‘The News’ on Monday.

“I will keep playing a neutral role as a member of the KP NC,” said Basit, a former NBP footballer. Sindh Football Association NC consists of Khwaja Obaid Ilyas, Khurram K Jamali, Qasim Jamal, Mohammad Danish and Najaf Iqbal Hussain.

An official of the outgoing Sindh Football Association (SFA) told ‘The News’ on condition of anonymity that he knows only Danish, who is a close friend of District South FA’s patron Nasir Karim.

Nasir, who was an ExCo member of the Ashfaq-led PFF, told ‘The News’ that Danish was associated with his association as a marketing representative almost a year ago. When asked if Danish was his friend, Nasir said: “Everybody is our friend.”

Meanwhile, Abdul Manan, Sardar Mohammad, Adil Kausar, Ali Ahmed and Sohail Ahmed have been announced as members of the Balochistan FA NC. Commenting on the composition of the provincial committees, former Punjab Football Association (PFA) president Naved Haider said: “It’s totally biased and against FIFA rules. Such composition will lead to many problems in provinces,” Naved said.

The PFF NC said that with the formation of provincial NCs all the previous associations stand dissolved. “FIFA had set up the PFF NC with effect from September 17, 2019. As of that date, all provincial, regional and distrcict football associations had accordingly ceased to exist. However, certain provincial associations have continued to operate and in some cases have taken decisions in violation of the PFF NC directives (in relation to which disciplinary action will separately be initiated). This is to confirm that all provincial, regional and district associations stand dissolved,” the PFF NC said.

“With effect from the date of this directive all the matters relating to football affairs and elections in their respective provinces and regions will be managed by the provincial/regional NCs,” it added.

“Members of the remaining provincial/regional FAs will be announced in due course. But it is reiterated that all previous provincial and regional associations stand dissolved,” the PFF NC said.

“The chairmen and secretaries of the dissolved bodies should hand over all records including date of the clubs, bank accounts, statements, cheque books, records to goal projects and all relevant records to the respective provincial/regional NCs lattest by February 19, 2020,” a PFF NC press release said.

“The secretaries of the provincial/regional FAs who should also have previously ceased to act will in any event also cease to act as such and the provincial/regional NCs may appoint secretaries on the their discretion,” the release said.

The PFF NC has also appointed Manizeh Zainli as Secretary General with immediate effect. “Ms Zainli has 15 years of experience in top management,” the PFF NC release said. It added that Haris Jamil Alam would continue in his role as Deputy Secretary General.