(mnm.com.pk) Pakistan is going through one of its darkest periods since the attack on the Pakistan Football Federation headquarters and its takeover on Saturday by a group led by Ashfaq Shah.
At around 19,900 on March 27, 2021, a message came from a spokesman for the PFF's WhatsApp group that Ashfaq Shah and his group had attacked the Lahore headquarters and had taken control of the building. Is.
Hours later, it was announced that the 2021 National Women's Football Championship had been "canceled".
In the aftermath of these matches, players as well as football supporters in Pakistan are fearing the worst, and many of them are expecting tougher sanctions from the game's governing body: FIFA.
mnm.com.pk Digital contacted Malik Haroon, head of the normalization committee, to ask about the reasons why these unprecedented incidents have shocked the football community in Pakistan.
mnm.com.pk Sports: When did you take charge of PFF?
Malik Haroon: I took charge of this office on January 20, 2021, as the head of the normalization committee. He knows best what happened during the tenure of Hamza Khan (NC chief from September 2019) but he was a caretaker to run the day to day activities till I resigned and he reversed all the changes from 2019. ۔ So we came back to ground zero again.
mnm.com.pk Sports: What was your mandate from FIFA?
Malik Haroon: I had a five-point mandate from FIFA on the continuation of day-to-day activities, registration of football clubs and holding free and fair elections in the last two Pakistan Football Federations.
Since last month, we have repeatedly informed the media that the election process will take place in April, after which candidates will be able to register and vote after creating FIFA Connect IDs.
mnm.com.pk Sports: Did you meet Ashfaq Shah first?
Malik Haroon: Yes, I had already met on Saturday with the people who were leading the attack and occupied the PFF House.
mnm.com.pk Sports: Do you have any concerns about how to run PFF?
Malik Haroon: Yes. He had two major concerns about the way I was dealing with things. The first was about why I decided to spend Rs 25 million on a women's football tournament. They think the payment is unreasonable.
I told them that the money being spent on girls' football was very small and that these athletes deserved better. If you cut down on expenses, these girls are living in Karachi at a daily cost of Rs. 613. I'm sure most of us have a cup of tea that is much more expensive.
Second, they wanted me to hold elections based on registrations in 2015. I saw in detail why so much emphasis is being placed on holding elections like this. There, I found out that the whole process looked flawed. The province where football is the most popular sport. Balochistan - Only 16 out of 33 districts are registered.
Under the 2015 rules, it was so easy to become the head of a district that then gave the same people the power to call for club registration on the basis of kinship.
Such laws would not be acceptable and I told them that the next election would not be held with such a flawed system.
Time Sports: What happened on Saturday, March 27, 2021?
Malik Haroon: That day a group led by Ashfaq entered my room. I took them out and we sat in a conference room. I asked him what was wrong and he told me to hand over the charge and leave. I told them it didn't work that way. FIFA will not approve them. He replied that he did not care. Please tell us your bank account details and leave. We will also take care of matters with FIFA.
I was like, give me three to four days to figure out a way, and they were like, no, that's enough. We waited a long time. I went back to my room to call my lawyer but Ashfaq and his men entered my room and asked if I was going to do what they were asking me to do.
I then tried to have a word with them and try to convince them that FIFA would not allow it but at the same time, more and more people entered my room and started harassing me.
mnm.com.pk Sports: How did you get out of the building?
Malik Haroon: I felt my life was in danger and at that moment I decided to pick up my bag and leave. I asked my finance director to come with me but he said people were already looking for his closet to find out where the check books were.
When we decided to leave, a group led by Ashfaq Shah physically stopped my finance director. He was also telling me to stop but I did not listen to him. I came downstairs and saw that the glass gate was locked so no one could open it. Fortunately, there was a brick that prevented us from closing the gate ourselves. I used it to break glass and leave it on the building grounds.
Time Sports: When did you?
