ISLAMABAD: Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr. Fehmida Mirza Wednesday sought resignation of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Lt Gen (R) Arif Hasan due to consistent poor performance of national athletes in different events, saying “he should step down immediately.”
The minister was responding to a Calling Attention notice of Senators Mohsin Aziz and Mushtaq Ahmed who drew attention of the minister towards continuous poor performance of Pakistani athletes at Olympics for more than three decades.
Dr Fehmida Mirza said the previous governments had also attempted to remove the POA president but could not succeed, adding he [the POA president) considered that he was not answerable to anyone.
The minister agreed with the lawmakers’ suggestions to hold a sitting of the Senate’s Committee of the Whole to debate the issues related to sports activities.
She said the government was in process of finalizing a new Sports Policy under which the regulatory regime would be ensured. As per international practice, the minister said the matters related to ‘governing and guidelines’ of sports always rested with the federal government, despite that the subject was provincial.
Under the new policy, she said nobody would be able to use Pakistan’s name without registration sports associations and other bodies at the appropriate forum.
She said the federal government was waiting for the provincial governments’ and other stakeholders’ input for the new policy that would be forwarded to the quarters concerned for its vetting.
“We believe that there should be strong coordination among federal and provincial governments on sports related issues, ” the minister said.