Composition of committees formed for Punjab, Islamabad football criticised [The News]

KARACHI: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee on Tuesday announced committees for Punjab Football Association (PFA) and Islamabad Football Association (IFA).

Naved Akram, Khan Malik, Rizwan Asif, Aneeq-ur-Rehman, Moazzam Ali Khan and Shoukat Ali Khan form the six-member committee for Punjab. Mohammad Zaman, Syed Muqbil Hussain Naqvi and Ghulam Mujtaba are members of the Islamabad body.

The constitution of the bodies has raised many eyebrows. Before this, the committees announced for Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had also attracted criticism from some stakeholders.

Former PFA president Naved Haider rejected the composition of PFA NC. “I totally reject this committee as it is not neutral in any sense,” Naved told ‘The News’. “The PFF NC is doing favouritism as Zahir Shah is being hugely favoured. The things are heading towards disaster,” Naved said.

“I will not keep silent and will never let the NC take one-sided decisions. I am not happy with the way Punjab’s genuine women footballers were denied an opportunity to represent their province in the National Women Football Championships,” he said.

“In every province, stakeholders are unhappy as all the decisions taken so far by the NC reflect that it is paving way for the success of a particular individual,” Naved said. He added that FIFA must take notice of what is being done by its appointed NC. “I request FIFA to take notice of what is being done by the NC. If NC was not stopped from taking one-sided steps then unlike in the past when a legal battle was between two groups this time every province and every district would see litigation,” he said.

“The normalisation committee has flouted rules and regulations by recruiting staff for its secretariat without giving proper adverstisements and following any standard criteria,” Naved said.

He said that a committee should either be of five or seven members. “How can you form a six-member committee! They did this to accomodate their favourite,” he said. This correspondent has learnt that Moazzam Ali Khan, part of the PFA NC announced on Tuesday, is closely associated with Hafiz Salman Butt, a former PFF secretary, who is supporting Zahir Shah. A well-connected source told ‘The News’ that Shoukat Ali Khan, also member of the PFA NC, is close to the PFF NC member and former PFF secretary Col Mujahid Tareen.

Interestingly, Mohammad Zaman and Syed Muqbil Hussain Naqvi, who are part of the body announced for Islamabad, served as vice-presidents of the last set-up of the IFA which is backing Zahir Shah.

It is pertinent to mention here that Zahir Shah is former president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Football Association. He is likely to be brought as the new PFF chief.

Published in The News, 26 February 2020

Essa slams PFF normalisation committee [The News]

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Essa on Tuesday lashed out at the Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) Normalisation Committee for biased steps it has taken so far and said that it would be disastrous for the country’s football.

“The PFF NC has destroyed the hopes of Pakistani footballers,” Essa told ‘The News’ in an interview from his hometown Chaman. “We were expecting that the committee will ensure neutrality in its working but it has so far favoured one group.

“The NC has become a group now. It has so far worked completely against Faisal Saleh Hayat group and Amir Dogar group which is a question mark over its neutrality,” Essa said.

“By taking one-sided decisions the NC has failed to pave way for transparent elections. The one-sided steps taken by the NC will create mess in the provinces and footballers will suffer ultimately,” said the former play-maker.

Essa has been the best play-maker of Pakistan’s football history. He led Pakistan solidly throughout his captaincy. He is also acting as coach of the K-Electric. He has also worked as Pakistan senior team’s assistant coach.

“FIFA had installed the NC for holding transparent elections and it has failed completely in the task. The biggest issue is that such people are part of the PFF NC who don’t know football. How will hold elections at various levels when they have no knowledge of the game,” Essa said.

He said the football community must protest against the “biased” decisions of the NC. “Personally I will try my best to protest against these measures. I will convey my message to FIFA and the AFC and request the world body to take immediate notice of what is happening in Pakistan’s football before it is too late,” Essa said.