ISLAMABAD:The National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) on Tuesday urged the IPC Ministry to expedite the Report of the Management Committee, constituted to finalize the recommendations in the matters pertaining to the affairs of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).
In the meeting held here under the Chairmanship of MNA Nawab Sher, the IPC Minister Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari informed that the recommendations of the Management Committee PHF have already been submitted for approval of the prime minister who is also the Patron-in-Chief of PHF. He said the ministry has written a letter to the Auditor General of Pakistan for a special audit of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the last six months and the report thereof would be shared with the Standing Committee for its review.
MNA and Mover Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been asking for the Report for the last two and a half years which has not been submitted to the Standing Committee which shows that PCB is not giving importance to the Committee.
Upon a starred question, moved by Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, the Secretary-General, PHF mentioned that lack of funds and lack of camping are the reasons for the downfall of hockey in our country. He informed that their ranking is upgraded in the world ranking from 18 to 16.
He said that eight players from the junior team are now selected in the National Hockey Team and the management is working to make it better day by day.
The Secretary, the Ministry of IPC apprised the Committee that there is no denying fact that hockey has shown a downtrodden fall. The decline has not happened overnight, but it has spanned over the last three decades.
He briefed that over 25 Synthetic Hockey Fields have been and are functional and a number of hockey turfs are also being laid down all over the country, however, Talent Hunt Programs, selection of teams and skill development etc. rest with PHF and its subsidiaries, in spite all there is no doubt that these entities have completely failed to enable Pakistan Hockey Team to compete at international level.
Olympians Akhtar Rasool, Shahnaz Sheikh, Rana Mujahid who were also present in the meeting said they wanted the game to flourish and prosper and they were always there for the support of hockey.
The IPC Committee members also expressed disappointment over Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalization Committee (NC) Chairman Haroon Malik for failing to hold the national body’s elections and asked for strict actions against him.
IPC Minister Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari briefed the committee that they have sent a letter to FIFA on the performance of NC. “I’ll be going to Switzerland to meet the high-ups of FIFA and FIH (International Hockey Federation),” he said.
He said NC was playing foreign players in the national team which is the reason why no coordination was made among the team resulting in losing games.
Malik is taking a handsome amount to run PFF affairs which is being deducted from PFF funds, which FIFA gives to Pakistan. FIFA had stopped providing funds to PFF as there was no elected body, he said and added that an audit would also be done of the PFF in this regard.
Besides IPC Minister, the meeting was attended by MNAs Rana Mubashir Iqbal, Zulfiqar Ali Behan, Ms. Shahida Rehmani, Ms. Nasiba Channa, Ms. Rubina Irfan, Dr. Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, Ms. Javairia Zafar Aheer, Ms. Asiya Azeem, Ms. Wajiha Qamar, Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto. The senior officers from the Ministry of IPC, Pakistan Hockey Federation and Pakistan Sports Board were also present in the meeting.