IPC Ministry’s slackness lands hosting of 14th SA Games in serious doubts

ISLAMABAD: As uncertainty looms over the government’s resolve to financially support hosting of the already delayed 14th South Asian Games, a meeting has been convened in Islamabad on Monday (tomorrow) to discuss the future of the mega event.

Well-placed sources have confirmed to The News that major stakeholders, Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), Ministry of Finance, Planning, Foreign Office and Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) representatives will discuss the utility of hosting of the games in special context with the expenditure and country’s image involved in such a venture. It is not the first time that Pakistan has been given the rights to host the Games. The country successfully hosted these Games in 1989 and then again in 2004.

This time around the slackness of the Ministry of IPC and some officials’ efforts to serve only their personal interest has dealt a severe blow to the Games’ organizational aspects. The Ministry of IPC’s inability to comprehend the importance of the matter and adopt delaying tactics has already threatened Pakistan’s status as a host nation.

The members of the South Asian Olympic Committee have already taken a serious notice of the delaying tactics adopted by organisers in Pakistan and have started questioning Pakistan’s ability to host these Games according to the schedule shared by the POA last year.

The National Olympic Committee under the directions of the government of Pakistan had earlier given March 2024 as the Games hosting month, later the Committee informed member countries that due change in government/general elections it would not be possible to hold the Games early 2024.

Some member countries have already expressed their concerns on one after another excuse adopted by the host nation as delaying tactics and have called on the POA to hand over the hosting rights of the Games to the next host (Sri Lanka) in case Pakistan is not capable of fulfilling its responsibilities.

A few months back Sri Lanka’s Minister of Sports Harin Fernando instructed his Olympic Committee (NOCSL) to look into the possibilities of hosting the mega event due to the dim picture coming out of the original host country (Pakistan). The Ministry of IPC that looks after sports in absence of a Sports Ministry because of the 2012 constitutional amendments, first constituted the Steering/Organising Committees without taking stakeholders in confidence and then realized that it would not be possible for them to take major decisions without the having technical knowhow of the organizational aspects.

The delayed realization by the Ministry forced them to make changes and to take the POA on board.

The meeting on Monday to be held in the Ministry of IPC offices is also an effort to cover up follies committed by bureaucracy that resulted in unnecessary delay in establishment of Main Office for the Games organisation that had been the case on previous two occasions.

Following the 2019 Kathmandu SAG, the Games could not be held until now. Hosting the 14th SAG was assigned to the Pakistan Olympic Association by the South Asian Games Federation the day 13th edition concluded.

The POA was given go-ahead by a high-level meeting held at the start of 2021 at the Prime Minister Office to hold the mega event in populous cities of Punjab with Lahore being the main centre. However, almost three years down the line the Steering/Organising Committees constituted by the IPC Ministry are totally non-functional.

The Federal Government has already approved a whopping amount of Rs four billion around for the event with tenders already being floated during the PTI Government when Dr Fahmida Mirza was heading the Ministry of IPC.

In a recent letter written to the POA, the IPC Ministry looked keen on getting an update on the status of the Games with the National Olympic Committee. In response the POA clarified its position that it is actually the Ministry that formed the Steering/Organising Committees and the onus rests with the Ministry.

The letter written to the Ministry by the POA states that it was the government that constituted the organising committee without even consulting the POA. The POA maintained that there are serious threats to Pakistan’s hosting rights due to the unnecessary delay by the Government formed Organising Committee.