PFF gears up for elections following successful conduct of PFRA elections [The Nation]

The election wheels of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) have been set in motion with the initiation of the election process, coinciding with the election of new office-bearers for the Pakistan Football Referee Association (PFRA) on Monday. 

Muhammad Shafiq was elected unopposed PFRA President while Waheed Murad was elected Senior Vice President, Imtiaz Ali Shah Vice President, and Saeed Khan Secretary General of the PFRA (all unopposed). The other elected office-bearers include Arfan Aslam as Treasurer, Arsalan Sharif as Assistant Secretary and three members Muhammad Ashraf, Qaiser Ali and Muhammad Arsalan Sharif. 

PFRA President Muhammad Shafiq expressed the joy at the return of football in Pakistan and the historic qualification for the second round of the FIFA World Cup. He also noted the promising progress in the PFF elections, expressing optimism that the effective management by the Normalisation Committee will continue guiding the federation.   

Waheed Murad, Senior Vice President, said that the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is supervising the PFRA elections, ensuring everyone has an equal right to vote. “For the first time, I along with my community cast a vote that never happened before, and I also hoped that the PFF would continue to conduct future elections with the same transparency.”   

Saeed Khan, newly-elected PFRA General Secretary, said that they’ll strive to excel in the Referee Community, continuing the positive efforts from the past. Highlighting the significance of refereeing in football, he expressed their commitment to elevating it to the next level as their duty. “We want to appreciate the PFF NC for initiating and organizing such a mega event that could not have been possible without their support,” he added. 

Published in The Nation, 13 November 2023

Dawn.com adds:

Shafiq elected PFRA president amid dissent from certain quarters

KARACHI: Mohammad Shafiq was on Tuesday elected the new president of the Pakistan Football Referees Association, the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee claiming that with that step the “election wheels have been set in motion”.

Shafiq will now have one vote when the PFF elections are conducted by the Haroon Malik-led NC, which has been asked by global football governing body FIFA to get the process done by the end of its mandate in March next year.

The PFRA elections, however, were termed “unconstitutional” by certain parties who are vying for power. They told Dawn on Tuesday that they had the option of going to court but they did not want to hinder the election process.

“Elections of the PFRA coincide with elections in district and provincial levels,” a member of one of the contesting parties told Dawn. “Here there are no provincial referees’ associations voting for the PFRA president.”

A member of another contesting party told Dawn that they had written to both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation about the elections but had received no reply.

“We don’t want to go into a legal wrangle here but if same unconstitutional steps are taken during the elections of the district and provincial football associations, we will go to Court for Arbitration in Sport,” the member added.

Shafiq was elected unopposed with Waheed Murad becoming the senior vice-president. Saeed Khan was elected the PFRA general secretary.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2023