Comedy of errors: Confusion reigns supreme in Pakistan hockey federation

Since the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had denotified all the office-bearers of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on the expiry of their tenure, there has been no clarity about who is running the day-to-day affairs of the federation. On Saturday, the denotified President of the PHF, Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokar announced the appointment of former international, Saeed Khan as the new secretary-general in place of Asif Bajwa.

The federation became a laughing stock when Bajwa refused to leave his office and occupied the secretary-general's seat on Monday and Tuesday, insisting he was still in charge. Saeed Khan, who is based in Paris and was asked to take charge as secretary-general by Monday, has now been told to stay put until further instructions.

To cap the comedy of errors, Khalid Sajjad Khokar on Tuesday left for Birmingham to attend the Commonwealth Games as President of the PHF. "These people have turned our national game into a 'Tamasha' and even the government is doing nothing," former Olympian Samiullah Khan lamented.

And in all this chaos, the Pakistan hockey squad has departed for Birmingham to take part in the Commonwealth Games with little hope of reaching the medal podium. Former captain and Olympian, Manzoor ul Hasan said things have only gone from bad to worse in Pakistan hockey because the government has remained a silent spectator.

At present no one is aware whether Khokar is constitutionally and legally allowed to remain President or not because the Pakistan Sports Board had denotified Khokar, Bajwa and some others early this month as the PHF had not held its elections as per its constitution in May this year. But the PSB surprised everyone by then announcing a four-member ad-hoc committee to hold