![IFA wants PFF elections in June [The News]](https://footballpakistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IFA-members-Syed-Tanveer-Ahmed-Ch-Saleem-Sharafat-Bukhari-and-Raja-Masood-at-press-conference.jpg "IFA wants PFF elections in June [The News]")
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Football Association (IFA) Wednesday demanded an immediate roadmap to conduct free and fair elections of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) by the end of June 2021.
At a press conference, Sharafat Bukhari, Principal Staff Officer, President Pakistan Football Federation Syed Ashfaq Hussain, President IFA Ch Mohammad Salim, Syed Tanvir Ahmed (vice president IFA) and Raja Masood (member Executive Committee IFA) called on Haroon Malik (chairman Normalization Committee PFF) to announce the election schedule at the earliest to avoid any complications.
“The committee has been given deadline until June 30 to conduct free and fair PFF elections. The committee is yet to take even the first step,” Sharafat Hussain said.
Ch Mohammad Salim said that instead of holding elections, the committee reportedly was involved in taking unconstitutional measures to linger on their stay.
“Any unconstitutional measures to be taken by the committee would be resisted and the matter will be taken to the court. The committee’s chairman is pocketing $6,000 per month while each member is getting richer by $4,000 on a monthly basis. They want to stay at the helm of affairs just to enjoy these perks. Their illegal measures would be taken to the court,” he said.
Tanvir Ahmad hoped that the FIFA would instruct the committee to conduct the election within timeframe given to them.
Published in The News, 25 March 2021
The Nation / APP adds:
SLAMABAD-The office-bearers of Islamabad Football Association (IFA) on Wednesday urged the FIFA-installed Normalization Committee (NC) of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) to immediately announce the election schedule, otherwise, they reserved the right to opt for an alternative strategy to safeguard as what they said the football interest in the country.
“FIFA has set a target for the Normalization Committee to hold elections before June 30, this year. But the committee has so far failed to announce any schedule. We urge the committee to fulfill its obligations without any further delay and announce a roadmap for elections. If it fails do so we’ll announce our future line of action in the next few days,” IFA President Chaudhry Muhammad Saleem told a news briefing at a hotel here.
Flanked by Syed Sharafat Hussain Bukhari, PSO to the erstwhile president of PFF Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah, Syed Tanveer Ahmed, vice president of IFA and Raja Masood, member IFA Working Committee, Ch Saleem said the NC was holding tournaments in the country, but that was not its mandate. “It was tasked to hold elections in a free and fair way, but unfortunately, it has taken no practical step towards that direction. It is busy in holding tournaments, which is not its task,” he said.
He claimed that the chairman PFF NC was drawing a monthly salary of $6,000 from FIFA, while each of the four members was getting $4,000. He said they had pocketed millions of rupees since their appointment and that was why they were not willing to leave the lucrative positions.
Ashfaq was elected PFF president in 2018 in elections held under the apex court decision. However, he along with his body handed over the charge to the FIFA-installed NC in September 2019 on the condition that it would hold fair and transparent elections. Pakistan’s Canada-based Haroon Malik is Chairman of the committee. Speaking on the occasion, Syed Sharafat said that Haroon was trying to get FIFA’s consent to revise the PFF statutes. “But any such attempt will have serious consequences as an individual or a committee can’t change the statutes.
“It’s only the Congress or General Body of PFF, which can do that, so our advice to the committee is to do the job, which it has been entrusted to, and abstain from unconstitutional moves,” he said.
He said the Supreme Court had given a mandate to Syed Ashfaq Shah till 2022. “He [Ashfaq Shah] has convened a meeting of Congress and Working Committee on March 26 in Islamabad. We’ll take important decisions in that meeting,” he added.