A TRUCE has been reached, ensuring Monday’s elections of the Pakistan Olympic Association will be acceptable to all parties, including the Pakistan Sports Board. The polls were headed towards a dispute when the PSB, the country’s sports regulatory body, wrote to the Olympic Council of Asia alleging a lack of transparency on the POA’s part. Pakistan’s Olympic chapter had been at loggerheads with the PSB, which had introduced a new policy that included the establishment of an independent election commission to oversee polls of national sports federations. The new policy introduced by the PSB included the creation of a special tribunal to address disputes, complaints and appeals of federations. The POA said it was tantamount to government interference, while the PSB countered that it was not impeding the federations’ autonomy but was seeking more accountability. In its letter to the OCA, the PSB had asked for the removal of ‘anomalies in the election process’ while also claiming that POA general secretary Khalid Mahmood had been banned due to violation of laws in his position as president of the Pakistan Boxing Federation. It seemed that the POA and PSB were headed towards a major stand-off that would bring the International Olympic Committee into play.

Luckily, that situation has been averted and the elections should pass without incident. Mr Mahmood will be running for post of secretary again but the consensus agreement between the POA and PSB has come in the shape of Arif Saeed, chief of the Pakistan Rugby Union, running for president. Mr Saeed enjoys close ties with the government and his ascension will hopefully resolve the issues between the PSB and POA. The POA was being headed by Mohammad Abid Qadri Gillani since January when retired Lt-Gen Arif Hasan stepped down. With the change at the helm, it is hoped that the government and the POA can be on one page for the development of sports in the country.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2024