LAHORE, Jan 15: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) top officials came under heavy fire at Senate's Standing Committee on Sports meeting on Saturday when questions were raised on unprecedented decline of the game during the past four years, questionable policies and decisions.

Former Olympian Islahuddin said PHF appointed foreign coach Roelant Oltmans and Pakistan team finished at fifth at Athens 2004 Olympics, while team took fourth position in Sydney Olympics in 2000 when he was manager.

"The result shows there is a clear decline as far as the performance of the team is concerned," he asserted. He said PHF was ready to pay thousands of dollars to foreign experts but it was not ready to pay its own heroes who were what he claimed "far superior." His views were also endorsed by other speakers.

Highlighting pathetic team performance in the past four years, Islah said team suffered worst-ever defeats such as 7-1 humiliation at the hands of New Zealand at Commonwealth Games in 2002 and came back without any medal from the Asian Games for the first time in history.

"What a pathetic performance. The team could not earn any title even having a God-gifted penalty corner striker in Sohail Abbas," he said. Islah was confronted by the PHF secretary Brig Musarrat Ullah that he should not criticise other coaches and reminded him that under his command the winning graph of the team was 42.8 per cent as compared to Oltmans's 60 per cent ratio of victories.

"I want to remind the secretary the circumstances under which I took charge of the team for Sydney Olympics. The PHF president and secretary were not in the office while the federation had only meagre fund of Rs600,000 and the team was standing at 11th position in the world.

Musarrat, however, admitted the Pakistan team failed to win any title during his tenure but said there were various "achievements" as far as umpiring and coaching matters were concerned.

Three senators Enver Baig, Murad Ali Shah and Dr Kauser Firdaus asked the PHF secretary to give his reply in writing to the committee by Jan 28. The senators asked PHF to explain whose idea it was to hire a foreign coach and also asked to submit copies of contract signed with the foreign coach and his team of experts.

Mr Enver, who read out the questionnaire, asked if it was not a fact that Mr Muhammad Shafiq had been appointed manager of the Pakistan junior team, although he had been involved in beating a player recently while he was manager of Customs team and that he (Shafiq) was also jailed in United Kingdom for shoplifting.

He asked whether it was true that Akhtar Rasool had been debarred by the Supreme Court from holding any public office and he could not run for elections for facing one-month punishment after being part of demonstrators who attacked the court in 1990s.

He said despite these incidents Akhtar had been appointed chief selector by PHF. He said PHF had also written a letter to the Lahore District Hockey Association on Feb 14, 2002, not to elect Akhtar its representative to the provincial association for the same reason, but later, appointed him chief selector.

The senators asked why PHF secretary after resignation of former president Gen Muhammad Aziz Khan on Dec 28, 2004, made new appointments for the team management before new president Mr Kirmani took over on Jan 5, 2005.

The senators also asked the PHF's bank balance since July 2000 when Musarrat took over charge till Jan 5, 2005 and also asked to provide the names of the sponsors or donors.

Earlier, Mrs Kausar asked why PHF had been purchasing air tickets from a particular travel agency based in Peshawar which had no authority of issuing international tickets.

She asked the procedure adopted by PHF of acquiring visas and according to an unconfirmed report some officials of the federation were involved in getting visas for people to earn money.

Senator Murad asked to inform the names of joyriders, including journalists, who had travelled abroad on PHF's expenditures. Akhtar said that he took charge after the government sought legal opinion from a lawyer regarding the Supreme Court decision.

Saleem Nazim, a vocal critic of PHF, said the federation never bothered to consult experts during the past four years. "Brig Atif had been consulting each and every person and fully acted according to the constitution. But that practice has been discontinued," he said.

"The secretary of Sindh Hockey Association should be from Karachi but he belongs to Khairpur. Lahore and Faisalabad are two key districts of Punjab but its secretary belongs to Multan. Similarly, Balochistan's secretary is from Naseerabad instead of Quetta, while NWFP's has secretary from Swat," he pointed out.

He said he was suspended as Punjab Hockey Association secretary unconstitutionally on Aug 5, 2004 for which he requested Mr Kirmani to give him a patient hearing.

As Mr Saleem was going back to his seat, Senator Murad asked him would he like to comment on a press statement in English daily in which he had claimed that Musarrat had been occupying PHF office unconstitutionally as he did not represent any affiliated unit.

"I had already given my view over this point in writing to the PHF president with the request for a meeting to find a solution to my grievance," he said. The sports minister Ajmal Khan said government had given enough money to the PHF, but they failed to deliver." I feel that players lacked fighting spirit and a will to win," he said.

The minister admitted that the government could not provide 400 Astroturfs like the Netherlands because of financial constraints. "But how Pakistan managed to win in the past despite having less facilities as compared to the infrastructure we now have," he asked.

Asif Bajwa said "wrong message" had been given to the committee about PHF and added "believe me we are not so bad people and I can assure that the revival of Pakistan hockey has started."

Director general, Pakistan Sports Board, Brig Arif Siddiqui said almost all proposals suggested by the members of committee including jobs of the players, admission quota in educational institution, had been included in the presentation.

He disclosed Pakistan Railways had been giving 50 per cent concession in fare to some sports federations and was not ready to provide same facility for the others. He said PHF had been getting 50 per cent concession from PIA.

The chairman of the committee Zafar Iqbal in his concluding remarks said that more meetings with PHF were necessary as there were certain important points which were yet to be discussed. He advised PHF to form an advisory board having former captains.