29-Dec-2011
The News
Our Correspondent
KARACHI: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Wednesday served a legal notice on a group of former Olympians, who had leveled allegations against the PHF that included human trafficking.
Qasim Zia, the PHF President, told ‘The News’ that the former Olympians have 14 days to respond to the notice in which the PHF has sought damages of Rs500 million from each of the 13 Olympians.
“They (the former Olympians) have levelled very serious allegations against the PHF and by serving them notices we have provided them with an opportunity to substantiate those claims in the court of law or face damages,” said Qasim, himself a former Olympian.
Qasim said that if the former Olympians failed to submit an appropriate response to the legal notice then the PHF will file a defamation suit against them next month. A group of 13 former Olympians including former captains Islahuddin Siddiqui, Shehnaz Sheikh and Shahbaz Ahmed Senior requested Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani — PHF’s chief patron — to sack the existing PHF set-up, claiming that Qasim Zia and Company have failed to put Pakistan hockey back on track.
Shehnaz Sheikh wrote a letter to the Gilani on behalf of 12 other former Olympians including Khalid Mahmood, Saleem Sherwani, Samiullah, Saleem Nazim, Qamar Ibrahim, Qamar Zia, Saeed Khan, Mohammad Ayaz, Tahir Zaman and Naveed Alam. He stressed, in his letter, that under the current PHF set-up Pakistan hockey has failed to show progress in spite of the huge funds its has been receiving from the government. |
