On Tenterhooks: Pakistan Fails to Recapture FIFA House

The suspension of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), due to illegal occupation of FIFA House by a group of people led by Syed Ashfaq Hussain and Malik Aamir Dogar, is still in place after over two months as the related authorities have failed to recapture the building yet.

So far, no positive progress has been made in resolving the issue and Pakistani footballers are bearing the brunt of it.

Despite notices of Pakistani government and inter-provincial coordination committee, no concrete steps have been taken.

Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza said, “The government condemned the hostile and illegal takeover yet fallen short of taking any concrete steps to get FIFA House vacated”.

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Previously, the global football body decided to freeze PFF’s membership in response to third-party interference as the move was a serious violation of FIFA statutes.

In March, PFF headquarters situated in Lahore was taken over by a group of officials headed by ex-PFF President Ashfaq Hussain Shah.

Ashfaq Group is not concerned about FIFA’s ban and is not ready to leave the building.

In this regard, Chairman of Normalization Committee (NC) Haroon Malik said the suspension was hurting Pakistan’s soft image globally and it had to face international embarrassment.

NC chairman said that the sanctions imposed on Pakistan by FIFA have caused massive unemployment and untold frustration among players, referees, and coaches.

Concluding the ongoing debate, Haroon said, “The only way to get out of this international embarrassment is to get the illegal occupants including Syed Ashfaq Shah and Malik Amir Dogar to vacate FIFA House unconditionally”.

Although Pakistan failed to recapture FIFA house, the NC chairman added that personal vendettas should never be allowed to trump national interests.