LAHORE, Feb 19: A judge of the Islamabad High Court Noor-ul-Haq N Qureshi, accepting a contempt of court petition filed by the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), has ordered 13 persons including Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani to submit their written replies within 15 days.

The order to Mir Hazar Khan was issued as Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) president and other PSB officials who were ordered to make replies are PSB vice-president Faridullah Khan, secretary Abdul Ghaffar Khan and director-general Syed Amir Hamza Gillani.

Moreover, Pakistan Basketball Federation president Asif Bajwa, Pakistan Netball Federation senior vice-president senator Ghulam Ali, a former sports minister of Balochistan Shahnawaz Marri, Pakistan Volleyball Federation vice-president Zafar Abbas Lak, Pakistan Hockey Federation vice-president Rana Mujahid, Pakistan Netball Federation secretary Mudassar Arain, Army Sports Directorate secretary Col Qaiser Mustafa, Brig (retd) Arif Siddiqui and Col (retd) Zafar Ahmad have also been asked to make replies.

In its order the court has written: “The court vide order dated 7.2.2013 directed the parties to maintain status quo till the next date of hearing. As per learned counsel for the petitioner, the respondents knowingly ignoring the said order, processed further, thus committed contempt of court.

“Copy of this criminal original along with its annexure be transmitted to the respondents requiring them to submit their replies within a period of 15 days. In case reply is not submitted the respondents shall appear in person before the court on the next date of hearing.”

It is pertinent to mention that the PSB held a meeting in Islamabad on Jan 8 despite the fact that the IHC issued an order on Jan 7 restraining the PSB from holding it.

Soon after the meeting, news appeared on various TV channels that the meeting had imposed ad hoc on the POA and it had also decided to hold the 32nd National Games in Islamabad again. However, when the minutes of the meeting were released, there was nothing about the ad hoc, but later on another meeting by some national sports federations’ officials was held in Islamabad in which a parallel body was announced.

However, the International Olympic Committee taking a prompt action only recognised the POA headed by Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan.