The recent news conference by the IPC Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza and the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Shahbaz Gill during which the latter asked the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) chief Lt General (retd) Arif Hasan to step down from his post has made the sports environment of the country a bit serious.The POA is expected to respond next week during a news conference. The NOC has also convened its general council meeting and this matter will be put before it. The government-NOC rift may have serious consequences as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) prohibits government’s interference in the affairs of its affiliated NOCs. The POA also plans to hold a meeting with the Prime Minister Imran Khan to apprise him of its side of the story and how the NOC handled Pakistan’s contingent participation in the Tokyo Olympics and what exactly the role of the NOC is.

The NOC will go deep to normalise the situation as a confrontation may lead to serious consequences and that may invite IOC’s sanctions also. “NOCs must preserve their autonomy and resist all pressures of any kind, including but not limited to political, legal, religious or economic pressures which may prevent them from complying with the Olympic Charter,” an IOC document says. Let’s see how NOC deals with this pressing matter.

This is not something new as the country faced a similar situation in 2013-2014 when a rift between the government and the NOC put Pakistan on the verge of the IOC suspension before then IPC minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada restored the working relations with the POA following an agreement with the IOC in its headquarters in Lausanne. In such a clash, normally athletes suffer the most. The issue has been created at a time when Pakistan has ahead loads of international events in the next one and a half years, including the 2023 South Asian Games which Pakistan will host in March 2023. The biennial event will need massive preparations as infrastructure will need to be established and boosted in the zones of Punjab where the Games are expected to be organised. The next year carries Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Islamic Games for which we need smart preparations which will not be possible if we indulge ourselves in such issues.

If we are to protect our athletes and want to do something positive towards sports development we need harmonious working relations between the POA and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) which is headed by the IPC minister as its president.

The POA is an autonomous body, affiliated with the IOC, and the Supreme Court confirmed this fact in early 2019. Both PSB/IPC and POA will need to respect the mandate of each other and will have to work in their own respective domains. This is the only way we can run our sports system. Interference in each other’s affairs and blame game will lead to a clash.

I don’t say that issues are not there. There are various issues of sports governance which need to be addressed but there should be an appropriate way to do so. We should know what we are doing. This is not the right way to resolve the issues. The Prime Minister Imran Khan himself should look into this situation and try to resolve it. If we fail to resolve it at this stage, further issues may emerge which will not be easy to address. Here I want to reproduce famous quotes of the IOC president Thomas Bach relating to such issues.

“International sport can only work if the international rules of sport are respected by everybody. If tomorrow a government thinks the penalty kick in football is not anymore 11 metres but 12 then it is impossible to organise international events and the same applies to the basic rules of the governance of sport. This is why we are looking and studying very carefully the statutes of the respective NOCs and relations with the governments.”

“If a government is funding something like an NOC, it does not mean that the government cannot respect the autonomy of the organisation which receives the funds.”

“We are also looking in sport for a partnership with governments and with politics in the mutual respect of each other’s rights and obligations.”

We should look after our athletes properly and train them in the most scientific way as the rest of the world does without any discrimination.

Pakistan is brimming with talent but we have been unable to get the best out of it. We saw this talent in the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics where we just missed the victory podium in weightlifting and athletics. Instead of doing politics we should focus on our sports development. Our athletes cannot bear any further damage to their careers. Reforms are possible without creating such a confrontation. I hope sanity prevails.

73.alam@gmail.com