PHF affairs in the spotlight once again

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister’s appointed Performance Evaluation & Election Process Committee on hockey affairs has been asked to finalise recommendations at the earliest and submit a report for the patron’s approval.

The committee headed by Pakistan Sports Board Director General Shoaib Khoso includes two former World Cup-winning captains Akhtar Rasool and Islah-ud-Din Siddiqui and Shahnaz Sheikh.

“The PSB has been asked to ensure completion of the recommendations within the specific time and hold the required meetings at the earliest. The committee has been given two mandates, first to analyse teams’ performances over the last seven years and to finalise a roadmap for free and fair elections of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) which has virtually become dormant these days. The PSB has already de-notified the federation as such there are urgent need of making a fresh start,” a ministry official said.

‘The News’ has learnt that the three Olympians have already been conveyed to show their availability for the important meeting.

“We have communicated to the PSB that all the members are available for a series of meetings in the first week of May. There is an urgent need of finalising the pending matters regarding the PHF’s affairs as the Asian Games are not far away. We have even suggested that meetings could well be organized from May 4-6 where all pending issues would be discussed,” a committee member said.

He added that all the committee members already have the possession of available details of performance and expenditures which were during the previous meeting. 

“A series of meetings over the next three days are required to finalise recommendation for the Patron’s approval,” the committee member said.

At the time of its formation, the committee was given 60 days to evaluate Pakistan hockey’s domestic and international performance and also judge whether the federation has worked in accordance with the constitution approved in 2010 and later in 2015.

Committee's mandate

i: The committee will evaluate the performance of PHF as per PHF constitution 2015, as well as the role and responsibilities given in the PSB constitution.

ii: The committee will prepare its report on the performance of the national hockey team for the period of August 2015 to May 2022 and the required roadmap for PHF elections.

iii: The committee will submit its report within 60 days after issuance of this notification (by April 6, 2023).

“We are already one-month late as April 6 was the deadline. It was all due to Ramadan and change of guard at the helm of PSB. It is a matter of two to three days to finalise recommendations,” the official said.

The patron-in-chief has also directed the concerned Ministry to conduct a Special Financial Audit of the PHF from August 2015 to May 2022 including reports that a parallel unaccounted bank account (hidden) was also being run by the federation officials during this period.

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