Pakistan continues to struggle to get its football house in order so much so that a FIFA ban on the game now looms large. The battle for control of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has been raging since 2015, with politics having a big role to play. Currently, there are two sides staking claim to the federation. One, an administrative group led by Ashfaq Shah who was elected as president in a poll held in 2018 on the orders of the Supreme Court. Two, a Normalization Committee appointed by FIFA in September 2019 with the mandate to make the federation compliant with the world body’s regulations and organise new elections. FIFA deems Ashfaq Shah’s election is in breach of its regulations for member countries.
Last week, the battle for PFF takeover turned serious when the Ashfaq Shah group forcibly took control of the PFF headquarters in Lahore. This triggered a warning by FIFA to vacate, until Wednesday (i.e. yesterday), the Football House and give its control back to the Normalization Committee headed by Haroon Malik or face suspension. FIFA has made it clear that the federation’s suspension would lead to the loss of its all membership rights with “immediate notice, including, but not limited to, the right of PFF’s national teams or any of its clubs to participate in any international competitions, as well as the right of PFF and its members to benefit from FIFA’s financial/development programmes”.
However, in a timely intervention in the matter, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, who is also the President of Pakistan Sports Board, has written to FIFA to send a delegation to Pakistan to settle the issues through dialogue involving all stakeholders. She has quite rightly expressed reservations over the performance of the Normalization Committee, put in place by FIFA about 18 months back, over its failure to hold elections. The government must play a serious part in the whole affair. We can’t afford a ban on football!
Customary delays
Development projects at three public universities in Sindh have been stalled for the past several years, even though the government has made much of the funds available, a report in this newspaper reveals. These institutions have completed a mere 25% of the uplift schemes. This bears testament to the neglect of the two significant sectors of health and education in the province and the country.
At the Sindh Medical University, Karachi the construction of a girls’ hostel and the expansion of an administrative block has been facing delays for the past six years. In 2015, the total cost of the scheme had been estimated at Rs791 million. This year, the government has released Rs30 million out of the Rs130 million set aside for the project but it is yet to get off the ground, showing that the authorities have failed to grasp the importance of hostel accommodation for female students. Red tape appears to be playingThis situation forces many to go to foreign countries for education at greater expense. a role here. Despite the passage of six years, the university has not even opened a separate bank account for the project. Many female students at medical colleges are in need of hostel facilities because their families live either abroad or in rural areas.
The setting up of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Chair at Karachi University was announced in 2012 but the work on it stays suspended since 2017 due to want of adequate funds and bureaucratic wrangling over the appointment of a consultant for the project. Work on a planned sewerage scheme at Karachi University is going nowhere though the government has allocated Rs400 million for it. A scheme for the construction of an auditorium at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto University and for improving other facilities has met with the same fate. The university administration has utilised only Rs50 million out of the Rs104 million released for the purpose. Official explanations for the delays are unconvincing. There are many questions, but no answer.
Imran’s reply to Modi
Prime Minister Imran Khan responded to the mostly warm letter sent by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Pakistan Day by reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to peace and “cooperative relations” with all. The response took a relatively long time — a full week — which may not have been the best course of action, considering that this may have been an opening for a thaw in relations. At the same time, the response itself was well thought-out, repeating some of the same language in Mod’s letter while implicitly criticising the decline of political and personal freedoms in India.
“The people of Pakistan commemorate this Day by paying tribute to the wisdom and foresight of our founding fathers in envisioning an independent, sovereign state where they could live in freedom and realise their full potential,” Imran wrote. He also referenced the Kashmir dispute, saying its resolution is of “particular” importance in bringing “durable peace and stability” in the region. The rest of the letter — like Modi’s — was pleasantries and supportive language regarding the other country’s efforts to tackle the Covid-19 coronavirus.
The exchange of letters has significance beyond their contents. It is the first direct public communication exchange between the leaders of both countries since a ceasefire was agreed upon earlier this month. That ceasefire has held remarkably well, and threatening language employed by top elected and military officials on either side of the border has also been replaced by cautiously optimistic language. Modi’s letter also arrived just a few days after Imran gave a speech in which he said “India would have to take the first step” and initiate dialogue, barring which “we cannot move ahead”. Keep in mind that Imran had previously said that if India took one step forward, Pakistan would take two.
Whether or not policy planners regard the letter as a ‘first step’ remains to be seen, but it is most certainly movement in the right direction. We may be well away from a resolution to the Kashmir issue or even a face-to-face meeting between Modi and Imran, but maybe lower-level officials can begin meeting to discuss ‘easier’ issues. Vaccine acquisition could be a very easy place to start.
