The players are awaiting their salaries for the past two months.—File photo

KARACHI The players of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) hockey team are awaiting their salaries for the past two months while being made to feel insecure about their basic livelihoods.

It has been around a month and-a-half since KESC announced that they were disbanding three of their best teams, namely, hockey, boxing and basketball but the fate of the sportsmen representing those teams is still hanging in the balance despite several appeals from sports federations to regularise their jobs like they did for 6,245 other employees recently.

But leave aside awarding them permanent jobs, they have not even been given contract letters. The only consolation for them remains in the fact that they have also not been handed termination letters.

KESC in the past has had the honour of being associated with many top sportsmen of the country. The well-known boxer Hussain Shah was also employed by them at one time, while Pakistan cricket team captain Shahid Afridi as well as Faisal Iqbal were first associated with them.

Currently, they are also represented by former national football team captain Mohammad Essa. Others working in their sports department are also not any smaller in stature.

Speaking to Dawn on Monday, Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) Secretary Farooq Khan said that he is saddened to see the state of the company's hockey team.

“We are not talking about an ordinary team here. Finishing second in the Asian club event, the KESC hockey team is ranked number two in Asia besides being number nine in Pakistan. In Karachi it is number one, making it a matter of serious concern for the KHA,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources said that KESC recently spent Rs20 million on the buildup of their football team, which is in sharp contrast to the Rs300,000 they spent on their hockey squad in the last one year.

Sources further added that KESC is not doing anything for the handful of employees, who gave more than 15 years of their lives representing it in various tournaments, despite their CEO Tabish Gauher having been sent a letter by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani pointing out the importance of sports activity in departments.

Taking heed of the situation, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President Qasim Zia, too, said on Monday that he is left with no other alternative but to take the issue to the Senate and National Assembly.