NC yet to get Football House possession

ISLAMABAD: As the two-week deadline set forth by Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza draws closer, the FIFA’s Normalization Committee (NC) has yet to get the Football House’s possession even after holding a series of talks with the Punjab government.

Haroon Malik, the NC head told ‘The News’ that the NC had a meeting with Punjab Government officials over the possession of FIFA House in Lahore. “Both the federal and Punjab governments are really supporting our cause and we hope to settle down the issue very soon.”

When asked whether the dates given by the Minister of IPC on possession of the House will be honoured, Haroon Malik hoped that soon they would get possession.

“Obviously we have to complete formalities. There is a system for everything and we would go by that system.”

The News, however, has learned that some tough conditions have been set by the Punjab Revenue Department over re-leasing the House to NC. In documents submitted in the court of law, the Punjab Government has pointed out that the House against the clauses mentioned the lease paper were sub rented and the lease was canceled way back (in 2008). The Punjab Government’s point of view is that the proper documentation is required to hand over the lease back to the football body. Unless and until the Ministry of IPC pursues the case in the best possible way by using its political connection, it is unlikely that the NC would be in a position to get the possession at the earliest.

It has been almost two and half years now that two sets of NC have been pursuing the one-point agenda and that is to hold free and fair football elections in Pakistan. Yet, no concrete steps have so far been taken to fulfill the duties the NC is there for. The first group of NC took over a year, just passing the time with second headed by Haroon Malik has also consumed over a year without any concrete results.