Col Asif becomes PSB director general

ISLAMABAD: Col (r) Mohammad Asif Zaman has been appointed as the new director general of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for a period of three years.

The Establishment Division issued a notification on Tuesday, saying that the competent authority is pleased to appoint Col (r) Mohammad Asif Zaman as the director general Pakistan Sports Board, under Inter-Provincial Division, on contract basis, for a period of three (03) years as per terms and conditions laid down in Director General, Pakistan Sports Board, Appointment Rules, 2020, w.e.f. the date of joining and until further orders.

The said appointment is subject to final outcome of W.P. No.3778/2020 Islamabad High Court.

“Merit and harmony will be the keywords of my stay in office. I will take the government and minister’s decisions forward and will try to implement these policies to the best of my abilities,” Col Asif said while talking to ‘The News’.

The former junior international squash player said he wanted to make life easier for athletes. “We are all there for the athletes and to see them performing to the best of their abilities should be our goal. My efforts will be to help them give their best to earn laurels for the country.”

When asked about the various controversies surrounding sports these days, he said every thorny matter could be settled sitting around a table. “In this modern sports world, there is no room for any war between stakeholders, rather efforts should be to settle the matter sitting around a table,” he said.

The post of the DG fell vacant at the retirement of Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera more than two years back. Since then the IPC Ministry was running the affairs on ad hoc basis. All the joint secretaries (during their respective stay in the ministry) took the ad hoc charge for a period of three months each.

The notification issued by the Establishment Division has given a passing remark of the pending case in the Islamabad High Court in which Mansoor Ahmad (Deputy Director General Administration PSB) has pleaded that the IPC Ministry should have considered him for the post. The new PSB DG’s appointment and legality depends on the outcome of the court verdict.