Controversies abound

All is not well in Pakistan’s Olympic family. A legal battle is expected as several controversies are set to emerge even as the country’s sports chiefs get ready to make an Olympic joy trip to Rio de Janeiro.

Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) may face opposition from Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) and Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) in the next couple of months. These federations along with the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) had been re-instated into the Olympic fold under the Lausanne agreement of October 2015.

But the POA in a meeting in Lahore on July 13, 2016, asked PCF and PJF to hold their elections within 60 days and withdraw their cases against the POA which they are bound to do under the Lausanne agreement.

The PCF, led by Kaukab Nadeem Waraich, held its elections recently. It has withdrawn its cases against the POA and is expected to submit a copy of it with the POA very soon.

The PJF has also applied for withdrawing its cases it had filed against the POA’s arbitration.

But both PCF and PJF are affiliated with their international federations. It had been decided that those federations would be accepted which are affiliated with their international federations.

The PJF is bound to hold its elections in the next three months as per rules and for that it has constituted an election commission. But how will the PCF go for elections, when it has already held its elections which were accepted by the international cycling governing body (UCI)? It will further complicate the situation.

In the past few years the POA wrote several letters to the UCI against the PCF’s legal status but the world body did not bother.

The POA’s stance regarding PCF and PJF will lead to a legal battle which could affect the players of both.

The POA is trying to exploit a sub-clause of the Lausanne agreement which states: "any future sports related/institutional disputes in relation to the POA will be addressed in accordance with the dispute-resolution mechanisms established in the POA Constitution."

But this is too dangerous and IOC may further be approached as there are certain legal issues which could help the two federations.

In case of PJF and PCF, the POA needs to adopt a stance which could prevent the federations from creating any controversy.

In Ramazan, POA secretary Khalid Mehmood told me that FATA Olympic Association’s elections would be held by October. It will again create a problem. FATA Olympic Association has held its elections on January 14 this year.

My sources told me that the elections had been accepted by the election commission which had held the POA elections on January 23. FATA Olympic Association had also cast its vote in the POA elections.

If the tribesmen were forced to repeat their elections it would create a legal controversy and the ultimate sufferers would be the players of the tribal belt which has been producing great talent. If terrorism is to be uprooted, sports in FATA should not be disturbed.

Resolving Sindh’s squash issue is also not an easy one. There are two parallel Sindh Squash Associations. One is led by squash legend Jehangir Khan and it is affiliated with the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) but it is not affiliated with the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA). The other association, led by Muzaffar Shujra and Amir Khan, is affiliated with the SOA but not with the PSF.

As per rules in resolution of such disputes input of the provincial Olympic association is given weightage. Let’s see how the issue is resolved.

The election of the president of Punjab Boxing Association (PBA) has raised many eyebrows. Boxing sources say that several legal formalities have not been fulfilled while bringing the president.

Balochistan Boxing Association (BBA) may also miss Pakistan Boxing Federation’s (PBF) elections due to legal complications. The PBF elections are due in December. The PBF has created a new post for chairman in its constitution.

The POA has taken an initiative to streamline its arbitration mechanism so that such pressing issues could be resolved deftly. It has decided to form a panel of arbitration which will consist of around 20 retired judges, bureaucrats and technocrats, who will be responsible for the resolution of any future dispute which may arise. The association will also get a formal approval about it from the IOC.

The POA, with the consensus of the federations, should also fix age-limit for the sports officials who run POA, federations and associations. This would provide opportunities to young people who I think would be able to run the country’s sports better. The current lot of sports administrators has been tried and tested but has failed to do well.