Tribal areas registered football clubs demand right to vote

KARACHI: The registered football clubs of former tribal belt want voting rights so that they could participate in the coming elections at the district level jointly with the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after its merger in KP.

“We have a lot of football talent but as FATA was an associate member of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) we had no voting rights. As we are now part of KP, we want to assert ourselves because of our contribution in the football development of Pakistan. We should be given voting rights,” the president of a registered club told this correspondent.

A club owner said that it was their right to become voting members. "You know the seven tribal districts now merged in KP have around 130 clubs and are all active, having competed in various championships and leagues,” a club owner said.

As per PFF Constitution if a club has played championships and leagues it may be given voting rights.

It is expected that the club scrutiny team of PFF Normalisation Committee will monitor the clubs in the former tribal area and decide their fate after looking at their past records.

Sources said that former tribal districts had several hundred clubs but they had been denied registration.

Another club owner said that former tribal belt football sector either should be treated as a separate unit. If that is not possible then its active clubs must be given voting rights, he added.