Abdul Jabbar Faisal
ISLAMABAD: “I am still president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), and I will pursue to court against the illegal and unconstitutional act of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, who imposed the ad-hoc on the hockey federation without any solid reason. I am elected president, and I will raise my voice at all national and international forums, including the International Hockey Federation (FIH), and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Khalid Sajjad Khokhar said this while addressing a press conference here at his residence in F-11/4 on Saturday flanked by Akhlaq Usmani and Asif Naz Khokhar.
Sajjad Khokhar further said that an unconstitutional person occupied the PHF office in Lahore today (Saturday) along with some gunmen. “Unfortunately, owing to the wrong briefing, the PM took an illegal action, as I and my team had put the national game hockey on track. I spent millions of rupees from my pocket to facilitate the players and sent them abroad for international competitions. After the completion of the tenure of a president PHF, the Prime Minister has powers to nominate any person to run the affairs of the federation for the next term, “he elaborated.
Responding to a question, Khalid Sajjad Khokhar said that he was avoiding any conflict with anyone. “I have a right to pursue court for my respect and I will knock on the doors of courts for justice. There is no legal position of ad-hoc. Some people are deliberately trying to destroy national game hockey, and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) misleads the high-ups regarding the hockey federation, as all affairs of the federation were running smoothly. Unconstitutional steps will hurt all sports. Annual grants are also not disbursing on merit and unknown federations get in millions while national game hockey gets a peanut, who brought laurels for the country. Chess federation receives Rs.40 million while Tenpin pockets 10 million from the government, ‘ex-army man Brig (Retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar concluded.
