by Alam Zeb Safi
KARACHI: Raising serious questions over the work of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA from Multan Malik Amir Dogar has said that they will approach both FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to bring to their notice the irregularities the FIFA-appointed NC has made so far by ignoring genuine football stakeholders.
“When the coronavirus is overcome we will talk to both FIFA and AFC to bring to their notice how the PFF NC is violating rules and regulations of both the respected bodies and bringing disrepute to them,” Dogar told ‘The News’ in an interview on Monday.
“We will tell them how it is ignoring the genuine football stakeholders of the country by taking biased decisions “We had accepted and welcomed the appointment of NC because we wanted international football to be restored and normalcy returned but NC could not live up to the expectations and has now become a nuisance for the country’s football because of its biased approach and nepotism,” Dogar said.
He also alleged that NC is lavishly spending and wasting the precious assets of the PFF. “We had given the NC around Rs170 million but the NC is spending lavishly and is wasting the precious assets. It has hired mostly bankers for its secretariat and is giving them huge salaries. Its lady secretary is taking huge salary. She lives in Karachi and comes to Lahore for a meeting once a month, stays at a five-star hotel and is making huge TA and DA without doing anything,” Dogar alleged.
“Karachi has been made camp office and the PFF exchequer is being mercilessly plundered,” Dogar said. He said NC had made changes to the Punjab Football Association NC composition several times.
“Four times has it changed the composition of Punjab FA NC. This is not the way things are handled. When the whole country is passing through the most pressing time due to COVID-19 pandemic, NC is making changes to the composition of various NCs without taking input from its own members. It should have rather helped the needy footballers and provided them with ration but it is implementing its own nefarious designs,” Dogar said.
“We were criticising the previous regime of Faisal Saleh Hayat but the NC has broken all records and is taking the matters towards a disaster,” Dogar said. “From day one NC has been biased. The way the national women championship was conducted and the way rights of Punjab women players in particular were trampled showed that NC is an embodiment of non-technocrats,” Dogar said.
Dogar is the son of former senator Salahuddin Dogar. He emerged as a strong football stakeholder when joined by former Punjab Football Association (PFA) president Naveed Haider who defected from the then ruling FIFA-recognised PFF headed by Faisal. Being elected as vice-president of the previous PFF set-up formed as a result of Supreme Court-ordered elections in late 2018 in which Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah had been elected as president, Amir has more weightage because of his association with the ruling PTI.
Amir’s father was also a strong advocate of football. NC, being chaired by little-known Humza Khan, a former Karachi United footballer, has been working since September last year. FIFA has given NC the mandate to conduct club scrutiny, hold elections at the district and provincial level before going for PFF elections within nine months. But NC has done nothing substantial despite spending six months in office.
The COVID-19 issue has further delayed the process and now NC will be seeking extension in its mandate. NC members minimum salary is 4000 US dollars. They also enjoy other perks and privileges and seem to be in no hurry to go for settlement of Pakistan’s football dispute.