Govt asks POA president to resign after failures in Olympics

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday demanded resignation from Lt Gen (r) Arif Hasan as the president of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) failing which the Ministry for IPC would look for the next available option.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Shahbaz Gill in the company of Minister for IPC Dr Fehmida Mirza has demanded resignation from the POA president, blaming him of all the ills in sports and failures at the Olympic level.

“I am sharing with you the decision we have reached today following the meeting with the prime minister. We demand the POA president to resign from the post along with his team so that the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Election Commission should conduct new elections after settling all the pending issues,” Shahbaz Gill and IPC minister jointly said.

Shahbaz Gill for the consumption of ordinary sports lovers also said that Lt Gen (r) Arif Hasan was neither a government’s representative nor had the government had any hand in his appointment.

“They have their own process. It is wrong to assume that Arif Hasan is a government representative or that the government has anything to do with his appointment.”

Dr Fehmida said that Arif had been calling the shots for the last 17 years now.

“What is wrong in sports is because of him and the federations. He has kept on electing himself as the president of the POA and succeeded in managing his elections through officials of his own choice.”

She also expressed her displeasure over POA decision to remove the name of president of Pakistan as the Patron of the POA. “The name of the head of state has been there since 1948. Why the name of the head of the state has been removed in 2019. There was no obligation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) then why the name has been removed,” she questioned.

When Shahbaz Gill was questioned as to whether the government approached POA President and listened to his side of story, he said that would be managed. “But here we are talking about decisions we have taken today.”

Fehmida added that sports policy would soon get cabinet approval. “It will be tabled before cabinet soon. We have already circulated the Policy with the federations and now it will be tabled before cabinet.”

She questioned as to why no new Sports Policy was formulated after devolving powers to the provinces.

Fehmida also looked firm on the Establishment of Election Commission and Dispute Resolution Commission. “Now it will be the government that will conduct elections of sports federations through the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) nominated election commission. This commission will be headed by a retired judge. We will also establish a Dispute Resolution Commission which will deal with the discipline case of players and officials. We are doing it on the lines of the Indian Olympic and their government rules and regulations.”

All the players had the right to meet PSB and Minister directly. “Why the badminton federation have any issue. Why has the federation secretary called for disciplinary action against players.”

Dr Fehmida also criticized POA Secretary Mohammad Khalid Mehmood, saying that he did not have any representation. “His boxing federation is not being recognized by the international body. We will recognize only those federations which would have international backing.”

When questioned about the future of forthcoming South Asian Games to be held in Pakistan if the newly ignited tussle would aggravate further. “It is the POA that should think about that, not the government.”

The IPC Minister also brandished a few letters from the POA which were sent to the government. “The POA demands MOUs the government has signed with international bodies before giving their feedback on the new Sports Policy. How dare they ask us to furnish the details.”

The IPC Minister was also accompanied by the Secretary IPC Mohsin Mushtaq and DG PSB Col (r) Asif Zaman.

“It is unfortunate that a few of federation officials accompanied players as coaches during the Tokyo Olympics. From here on we would monitor federations and they will have to abide by the rules. The POA issues accreditation to whomever it likes. We would not let it happen again.”