Pakistan’s hockey legends want PHF secretary sacked

KARACHI: Pakistan’s hockey crisis that was triggered by the national team’s disastrous last-place finish in the World Cup in New Delhi continues unabated with former greats renewing their demand for the sacking of top Pakistan Hockey Federation officials.

Pakistan’s Sports Minister Aijaz Jakhrani, who met the former national players in Islamabad on Wednesday, has said that he needs a week to take a call on the issue. He told The News on Wednesday that there wasn’t really any outcome from a meeting with PHF president Qasim Zia and three former stalwarts – Islahuddin Siddiqui, Shahnaz Sheikh and Shahbaz Ahmed.

“We had a meeting with the stakeholders today and it went fine,” said Jakhrani, who has been asked by Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Gilani to resolve the crisis as soon as possible.

Little was achieved by the minister through the meeting in which the Olympians refused to budge on their demand for the sacking of PHF secretary Asif Bajwa, who they have singled out as the main culprit behind Pakistan’s humiliating last-place finish in the World Cup in New Delhi in March.

Zia, too, was unwilling to change his stance on the issue and once again made it clear that he will not take the “unconstitutional” decision of dismissing Bajwa as PHF secretary.

Jakhrani sounded a bit displeased on the rigidity shown by both the parties and said that he has asked Secretary Sports and his staff to carry out a thorough research on whether an elected secretary of a national sports federation can be sacked by the sports minister.

“I’ve asked the secretary (sports), to check the constitution and the notifications issued by the sports ministry to dismiss elected officials of sports federations in the past,” said Jakhrani.

“I’ve given them a week to conduct all research and hope to make a call on the issue once I’ve gone through all relevant details,” he added.

“I won’t say that I would sack the PHF secretary or not because I don’t have anything concrete so far,” he stressed.

Olympians, however, are convinced that Jakhrani has the authority to sack ‘incompetent’ officials with Islah stressing that as sports minister it is his duty to set things right in Pakistan hockey.

“We have given the minister enough proof that he is authorized to take any kind of action against incompetent officials,” Islah said. “In fact we have told him that he can sack both the PHF president and secretary. The secretary should be dismissed because he is responsible for the World Cup humiliation and the president because he is shielding Bajwa for some unknown reason,” added Islah, a former Pakistan captain.

Islah said that the meeting with Jakhrani was “inconclusive” and once again renewed his call for Gilani’s intervention to save Pakistan hockey. “We appeal to him (Gilani) not as the prime minister but as chief patron of PHF to save our hockey,” he said.

Qasim Zia, also a former Olympian, took a swipe at the former greats, saying that he doesn’t consider them as “stakeholders” of Pakistan hockey.

“They don’t want to do anything positive for hockey,” he said. They are not even among the stake-holders because they have never taken part in the elections. They are just standing outside and trying to get changes in the PHF which is unacceptable,” he said.