13-Jan-2012
THE NEWS
KARACHI: Former Olympian Naveed Alam on Thursday took a swipe against top Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials, stressing that instead of rectifying their mistakes they are trying to intimidate the country’s former stalwarts.
Naveed Alam, who is a former coach of the Pakistan hockey team, said that he and other Olympians cannot be intimidated so easily as they have all the proof with them adding that they are as eager as the federation to have the issue resolved in the court.
“When the profiles of all those people, who went to foreign countries for supposed hockey activities after being sanctioned by the hockey federation, would reach the court then everything would become crystal clear,” Naveed told PPI.
PHF President Qasim Zia along with secretary Asif Bajwa addressed a press briefing here at Hockey Club of Pakistan the other day and threatened the 13 Olympians, who wrote a letter to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani highlighting federation shortcomings, demanding an unconditional apology from them.
Former Olympians Shehnaz Sheikh, Khalid Mahmood, Islahuddin Siddiqui, Saleem Sherwani, Samiullah, Shahbaz Ahmed Senior, Saleem Nazim, Qamar Ibrahim, Qamar Zia, Saeed Khan, Ayaz Mehmood, Tahir Zaman and Naveed Alam sent a letter to PHF partron-in-chief Gilani, asking him to remove inefficient PHF setup.
In response, the federation sent a legal notice to the Olympians. On Wednesday, Qasim Zia made it clear that there is no third way and either the Olympians extend an unconditional apology or get ready for a legal battle in the court.
“We have responded to the federation’s notice and have answered to each and every para (paragraph) accordingly. We want the case to be dealt in the court and we are well prepared for the battle. There are already too many cases against the federation in the court, which would assist us, so this case will go in our favor,” Naveed said.
However, Naveed said that Qasim was never involved in human-smuggling but claimed that the PHF chief is defending other PHF officials, who are involved in the criminal activity.
But Naveed categorically said that the present PHF set-up is involved in unconstitutional activities. Naveed also alleged Qasim Zia, who also belongs to Pakistan Peoples Party and is an MPA in Punjab, of mustering political and governmental supports for his election as Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) president.“Qasim Zia is using his political muscles to get elected as POA president. This is unconstitutional from International Olympic Federation’s perspective,” Naveed said. |
