ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs on Monday admonished Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan for writing a letter to his chief Mr Tariq Kirmani asking him to take remedial measures for tackling the committee’s criticism on the performance of the federation.

The matter was raised by Senator Enver Baig and every member of the committee agreed to Mr Baig’s point of view that by writing this letter, the PHF secretary had actually ridiculed the parliament and breached their privilege.

Quoting excerpts from the letter, Mr Baig said the secretary had alleged that the Senate body had been activated by some “disgruntled elements just to settle personal scores and more for the humiliation of a national sports federation and its top functionaries.”

Moreover, Mr Baig said, the PHF secretary had asked his chief to inform the prime minister, who is also the patron-in-chief of the federation to “forestall and thwart” such “sinister moves.”

Senator Prof Mohammad Saeed Siddiqui termed the letter as “humiliating” for the whole Senate body while another member Syed Murad Ali Shah went on to say that the secretary had actually “abused” them.

Defending his move, the PHF secretary admitted that he had used the term “sinister moves” and “miscreants” in his letter.

However, he claimed that the letter was being wrongly interpreted by the members.

He said that actually he had been referring to the “disgruntled elements” within the federation and the letter was not meant to thwart the committee’s meeting.

When asked to mention the “disgruntled elements or miscreants,” Brig Musarrat named Saleem Nazim from Faisalabad, former secretary of the Punjab Hockey Association, and Zahir Shah, the NWFP Hockey Association official.

“In no way, this letter was referred to the Senate standing committee,” he said. He also claimed that 95 per cent people in the PHF were not sincere with hockey.

Chairman of the Senate committee Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry and other members, however, did not agree with PHF secretary’s explanation and the chairman said that a privilege motion would be moved on behalf of the whole committee in the Senate for an appropriate action against the secretary for writing the letter.

It was PHF president Tariq Kirmani who rescued Brig Musarrat from the wrath of the senators, but in this effort he created more embarrassment for his own secretary when he stated that he (Mr Kirmani) had given no importance to the letter.

“The said letter was addressed to me and I have taken no action on it as I considered this letter of having no importance,” Mr Kirmani said, asking the members also not to take the issue to the level of the prime minister or the Senate.

Mr Kirmani’s comments ended further debate on the issue. Later, the PHF secretary again became the target of the Senate committee members’ criticism when some of them held him directly responsible for the poor state of affairs in the federation.

“This man Brig Musarrat is also involved in financial irregularities, and I will submit documents in this regard to the prime minister,” alleged Mr Baig. Mr Baig said that five years was a long period to show improvement in any field.

“The situation in the PHF is grave and there is a need to take some drastic steps to improve the situation,” he added.

He suggested that the present set-up of the federation should immediately be changed.

“Mr president, you cannot improve affairs of the federation with the present team,” Mr Baig said while addressing to the PHF president, Mr Kirmani.

He said the committee should recommend sacking of all those responsible for the team’s pathetic performance. Giving a brief record of the national hockey team’s performance in the last five years, Mr Baig said that Pakistan obtained fourth position in Olympics 2000 while the team stood at number five in the World Cup 2004.

Similarly, he said, in Champions Trophy, Pakistan was at number four in 2001, number three in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and then at number five in 2005. With these statistics, he said, how could the PHF officials claim that they had shown improvement.

The committee members took serious notice of the recent defeat of the Pakistani team in the recently-held Champions Trophy in India.

Chief selector Akhtar Rasool, team manager Saeed Khan, coach Asif Bajwa and assistant coach Rana Mujahid explained various reasons for the defeat of the hockey team in the Champions Trophy.

They admitted that there were flaws in the strategy and the game plan was not properly implemented in some of the important matches.

Rana Mujahid emphasised that the PHF office-bearers were not responsible for the Pakistani team’s defeats.

He said that actually the manager and coaches were responsible for the defeat. Asif said it was true that the team’s preparation for the Champions Trophy was not satisfactory and the boys could not produce expected results.

He, however, claimed that the hockey team would show improvement in the year 2006.

“I assure you that Pakistan hockey is in safe hands and we are capable of producing good results,” he added.

“If the team does not perform well in 2006, I will be the first person to quit the job,” he said.

Brig Musarrat claimed that Pakistan played some 167 matches in five years and its victory percentage was 56.

Referring to Mr Baig’s allegations, the PHF secretary said that he was not involved in any financial corruption and was answerable to the body which had been electing him for the past five years.

In his concluding remarks, PHF chief Tariq Kirmani called for commercializing hockey on the pattern of cricket. “There is no other option, but to commercialize hockey, and we are doing it,” he said.

The PHF chief, who is also chairman of the PIA, also stressed the need for promoting hockey at regional level.

“Departments like PIA and Customs can bring no interest for the public in hockey. There should be matches between cities and regions, and soon these matches will be televised live on TV,” he said.

In the end, the committee members directed the PHF officials to take steps to bring improvement in the game of hockey and produce players of high calibre.

The committee members also stressed the need for steps to groom players at the school and college level. The meeting was also attended by senators Fauzia Fakharuz Zaman, Nighat Agha, Razina Alam Khan, Minister of State for Interior Dr Shahzad Waseem and officials from the ministry of sports and culture.