Tikko offers help to resolve football dispute

KARACHI: An influential football stakeholder and former secretary of Balochistan Football Association (BFA) Haji Saeed Tikko on Thursday said that he is ready to play his role in the resolution of football dispute in the country.

“Yes, I am ready to offer my services to Normalisation Committee. I don’t think the issue will be resolved so easily. There is a need to bring NC and Amir Dogar group to the negotiating table and I am ready to play my role for that,” Tikko told ‘The News’ in a detailed interaction from Balochistan.

Tikko raised his voice for the resolution of the dispute by holding a news conference in Lahore some time ago, demanding the handover of the Football House to NC.

A month ago the IPC minister Dr Fehmida Mirza announced in a news conference in Islamabad that Punjab government would hand over the PFF headquarters to NC within two weeks but so far no breakthrough has been made.

“Amir Dogar is a key actor of football and he belongs to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. It is important for NC to talk to him. I have already told NC about this and am ready to play a role if NC agrees,” Tikko said.

“Dr Fehmida announced that the PFF headquarters would be handed over to NC but she did not pursue the matter. She should keep her promise and put pressure on Punjab government,” Tikko said.

This correspondent knows that there remains a disagreement over one point between NC and Punjab government. It has been learnt that NC would again contact the federal government in this respect.

Tikko demanded that Prime Minister Imran Khan play his role in the resolution of the dispute.

“It was expected that he would do something for sports promotion as he has been a sportsman himself, but on the contrary departmental teams are being abolished which will kill the entire sports system. The Football House was occupied in his government and other sports disputes surfaced,” Tikko said.

He appreciated FIFA's role. “FIFA deserves appreciation as it gave a lot of time to our football stakeholders. FIFA is still eager to resolve the issue and it is obligatory on our part to put our own house in order so that our footballers could return to action and start earning bread and butter for their families,” Tikko said.

He said that NC also needs to show some flexibility.

Amir Dogar-Ashfaq group occupied the PFF headquarters in late March last year which led FIFA to suspend Pakistan in the first week of April.

In the first week of November 2021, Punjab government sealed the PFF House citing lease issues.