Ashfaq group shows willingness to talk

KARACHI: A senior official of the Ashfaq group, which is in possession of PFF headquarters, on Tuesday said if the Normalisation Committee is serious in holding fair elections at the earliest then they are ready to hold a dialogue with it too.

“The PFF Executive Committee elected in December 2018 is still ready, willing and able to have a meaningful dialogue with the PFF Normalisation Committee if they are in agreement to conduct fresh, honest, fair and transparent elections of the PFF at the earliest,” Ashfaq-led PFF vice-president Naveed Haider told ‘The News’.

The statement came a day after NC’s member Haris Azmat and IPC minister Dr Fehmida Mirza held a detailed meeting in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the issue in an effort to reach an amicable resolution of the PFF headquarters occupation matter which led to Pakistan’s suspension by FIFA recently.

“There are three groups who are keen to contest the fresh elections. They are Ashfaq-Amir Dogar-Naveed Haider group, Makhdoum Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat group and Syed Zahir Ali Shah group,” he said.

“I propose that all the three contenders and groups should nominate one representative each to form a stakeholders Coordination Committee,” he said. “This Coordination Committee should be approved and endorsed by FIFA and AFC. The Committee would work along with the PFF Normalisation Committee to ensure the following tasks be done fairly:

“The PFF elections 2021 to be held as per the PFF Constitution and Statutes; all election rules to be drawn out as per PFF Statutes and scrutiny of voting right and playing right clubs registered in 2015 should be carried out in a transparent manner,” Naveed said.

“All bogus clubs with voting rights should be eliminated and deserving clubs with playing right should be given voting rights as per the PFF Statutes,” he said.

Naveed also proposed a roadmap which carries these points: The scrutiny of the registered clubs to be started immediately after Eid holidays; a list of registered clubs with voting or playing rights should be completed and finalised by June 30, 2021; elections of all District Football Associations (DFAs) be held and completed by July 30, 2021; elections of all the provincial and regional Executive Committees be held and completed by August 15, 2021; elections for the PFF President and Executive Committee be held and completed by September 15, 2021.

“If this roadmap is acceptable to all then the PFF Normalisation Committee is most welcome to assume the PFF offices immediately and carry out their task to complete the election process in this time-frame,” he said.