Dialogue only after faction vacates Football House, govt told

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee’s member Haris Azmat told Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee (IPC) Dr Fehmida Mirza that there would be no dialogue or a roadmap to hold free and fair PFF’s elections until the faction occupying the Football House vacated it.

Haris, who held a two-hour meeting with Dr Fehmida at her office, said that the faction that took over the Football House in Lahore would have to leave its premises first.

“There will be no dialogue with any faction. The Normalisation Committee will only act on the mandate given by the FIFA. The game’s governing body does not believe in any blackmailing or breach of the constitutional clauses. Once the faction vacates the House, the Normalisation Committee will unveil the roadmap to hold free and fair PFF elections,” Haris told ‘The News’ after the meeting in which Secretary IPC Mohsin Mushtaq and Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Col (r) Asif Zaman were also present.

Haris praised the minister for listening to the Normalisation Committee’s stance. “The minister was very forthcoming and listened to my side’s story, and promised to take steps to resolve the conflict,” he said.

Haris added that he promised to share the details of the roadmap to hold free and fair elections once the Normalisation Committee takes over the Football House. “We have no issue in sharing the details with the government. If the government wants to help us out in holding the election in accordance with the given FIFA’s mandate, the Normalisation Committee is ready for that,” he said.

The official said that the biggest problem to hold the election was fake clubs. “There is a constitutional clause that directs each and every club to hold a bank account. A number of clubs do not have one so there is a need to conduct fresh scrutiny of the clubs to determine which club is genuine and has the right to vote in the elections,” he added.

Talking to ‘The News’, the PSB DG said the government was ready to play its role in solving the issue. “We want to play the necessary role in solving the issues to get the FIFA suspension lifted,” he added.

Asif added that the faction occupying the Football House would be called for a meeting. “We want an amicable settlement. For that we are planning to invite that faction,” he said.

The DG also hoped that the Normalisation Committee would share the roadmap with the government. “They promised during the meeting that they would share the roadmap with the government,” he said.

Alam Zeb Safi from Karachi adds: Haris told the minister that FIFA had already initiated a five-year ban process on Pakistan and if that decision was taken then a dialogue would be of no use.

The minister was also told that the NC has the mandate to hold the PFF elections by the end of this year provided any impediments were not created.

The group of football stakeholders led by Ashfaq Hussain Shah recently occupied the PFF headquarters in Lahore, saying that NC did nothing towards the electoral process during the last 18 months of its being in possession of the PFF offices.

FIFA then gave a deadline for vacating the headquarters and when the Ashfaq group ignored that the world body suspended Pakistan.

The minister was also informed that the elections on the existing clubs list would not be conducted.

The minister was also told that FIFA’s stand is that the existing NC would remain intact even if the Football House remains in the possession of Ashfaq group for two years.

A few days ago the minister had held a meeting with the Ashfaq group and discussed the issue in detail.

The minister was also informed that those who have occupied the PFF secretariat may face life-time ban from FIFA.

However, she was told if the secretariat was vacated peacefully then NC would not push this case, but that NC would not be able to do anything if FIFA wanted to impose a ban on those who were involved in “the PFF occupation”.

Meanwhile, sources in the Ashfaq group told ‘The News’ that the group’s senior member and PTI MNA Amir Dogar held a meeting at Lahore with senior NC member Shahid Khokhar the other day. Khokhar briefed him about FIFA’s stance and the consequences for Pakistan football if the world body imposed a five-year ban on the country which would completely block Pakistan’s participation in international events.