Col (R) Ijaz ul Haq wins DFA Faisalabad elections

From our Faisalabad correspondent

Col (R) Ijaz ul Haq won the elections of the Faisalabad District Football Association held on 30th March 2011 at the city’s Hockey Stadium on Susan Road after a unanimous victory over rival candidiate Mr Azhar Javed, who failed to show up at the meet. In doing so, Ijaz ul Haq replaced the incumbent Rana Irshad as the new President of DFA Faisalabad.

A total of 32 club Presidents out of the 52 clubs registered with voting rights with DFA Faisalabad voted in the elections held between 10 AM and 1 PM. All of 32 clubs voted for Ijaz ul Haq, a former footballer of Pakistan Army team during his military career.

Also voted in for other posts were Muhammad Aslam Butt as Secretary, Rana Gohar Hayat (Samundari) and Rai M Hayat Khan (Jaranwala) as the two vice-presidents, Rana Waheed, Liaquat Raheem, Rai M Iqbal Anjum, and Rai Fazal Ameer as the four executive members, while PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad’s President Rai Saif ur Rahman Bhatti was elected as DFA Faisalabad’s member for the Punjab FA Congress. Each of the new members will now serve a 4 year term until next elections in 2015.

The election was supervised by KRL head coach Sajjad Mehmood Khan as Official District Convener while former international and coach from Pakistan Railways, Muhammad Rasheed, was the official observer for the elections.

The elections could not arranged at a football-centric venue because of a staggering lack of availability of dedicated venue in Pakistan’s third largest city of Faisalabad. This inspite of the fact that Faisalabad District has been a major assembly line of footballers playing across the country with major departments and clubs at highest domestic levels in Pakistan.

Sajjad Mehmood Khan announced the results of the elections soon after closing of polls at 1 PM deadline, with Col (R) Ijaz ul Haq confirmed as the unanimous winner in Faisalabad. The newly elected President addressed the gathering and vowed to fulfil his committments to football in the Faisalabad district in his term. He also praised Pakistan Football Federation President, Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, for his immense efforst for football in Pakistan.

PMC Athletico President, Rai Saif ur Rahman Bhatti, also addressed the newly elected members and offered his felicitations to the new President of DFA Faisalabad.

Thanks to Waheed Nagra.