KARACHI Olympians campaigning against Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary on Tuesday have been assured by Federal Minister for Sports that he would announce his decision within a week on whether he has powers to remove Asif Bajwa.

According to Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh, Federal Sports Minister Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani has promised that he would inform the Olympians whether he had powers to remove the PHF secretary after confirming the interpretation of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) constitution's concerned article.

“During our meeting with the minister today we had quoted the article of the PSB according to which being the president of the PSB, the minister can remove any official of any sports federation if he feels necessary. But as the minister wanted to know the interpretation of the article, he has promised us to announce if Bajwa could be removed by him through PSB article,” Shahnaz told Dawn.com after meeting with the sports minister.

Apart from Shahnaz, Olympians Islahuddin Siddiqui and Shahbaz Ahmad also attended the meeting where PHF president Qasim Zia was also present. The Olympians had only one agenda for the meeting - removal of Asif as secretary.

Shahnaz said that the three Olympians also informed the minister that apart from the PSB constitution, PHF chief could also remove the secretary, using an amended article.

“While the federal sports minister can remove Bajwa invoking the PSB constitution's article 4 (xi), Qasim Zia can also sack his secretary by using PHF's amended article 29.1. We have high hopes that the minister would announce a positive decision after a week as we had told him that both, Arif Ali Abbasi and Khalid Mahmood, were sacked by ministry of sports as PHF president and secretary respectively by using the concerned article,” said Shahnaz.

However, the former Pakistan hockey manager said that although they did not have any objections against meeting Qasim at the meeting, the Olympians had told the minister that they would refuse to attend the meeting if Asif was called.

Asked why Olympians never raised their voice against Qasim, although he had been defending Asif at every forum including the National Assembly's standing committee on sports, Shahnaz was unconvincing.

“Qasim had brought in huge funds for hockey, and then we can play against only one player at a time. We can't go against everybody in the PHF,” said the Olympian.

Asked whether he considered the campaign only against Asif and not Qasim a biased approach to settle old scores, Shahnaz said the Olympians had gathered “only to help Pakistan hockey recover from this tsunami.”

“What we had in New Delhi at the World Cup was a tsunami. It was all because of wrong PHF policies. But I am thankful to Asif Bajwa as it is because of him that all the Olympians have now united,” he said.

When pointed out that both Islahuddin and Shahbaz were a part of the PHF Executive Board under Asif as secretary, Shahnaz admitted it was a mistake.

Shahnaz disagreed when asked whether the campaign by most of the Olympians was a result of a personal grudge against Asif. While Islahuddin was not nominated by PHF for Hockey Rules Board of International Hockey Federation (FIH), the secretary had been vocal against senior Olympians, saying they are nothing but spent bullets.

Khalid Mahmood, who is also part of a group of disgruntled Olympians, was replaced by Asif. It is also being claimed by Khalid that Asif's appointment by the minister was illegal.

Asked why the Olympians never gathered together as they are now when Asif was appointed, and when Pakistan hockey went through its worst period during Brig Musarrat Ullah's tenure, Shahnaz admitted it should have been done before the disastrous results.

“I admit we should have come up against the wrong steps by Musarrat Ullah also and when Bajwa was appointed. But as they say it's never too late,” he said.

Interestingly, according to Shahnaz, Hassan Sardar who has been sacked as chief selector has also joined the group of Olympians. Ironically, Muhammad Shafiq has also joined the campaign against Asif “behind the scene” after being sacked as selector, said Shahnaz.

“Shafiq is not with us but we have his moral support,” said Shahnaz when pointed out about Shafiq's history of campaigns after sackings.

Shafiq has always been joining PHF under every set up for last 10 years and campaigning against the officials on being sacked. Shafiq had also been at the forefront during “Go Jamali Go” campaign against Zafarullah Jamali in 2008 when he was the PHF chief and Shafiq was sacked as selector along with others.