ISLAMABAD: After playing the role of a passive bystander during the contentious Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) elections on May 27, the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has finally stirred into action. A full week later, it seems to have realised that overseeing federation elections actually falls under its official mandate.
The PSB has dispatched letters to the Alpine Club of Pakistan, the Pakistan Bodybuilding Federation (non-affiliated with POA and OCA), and the Tenpin Bowling Federation (Non-affiliated with POA), announcing election schedules under the supervision of a PSB-constituted Election Commission.
According to the PSB’s notification, elections for these bodies are slated for June 20. All elections are to be held at the PSB Coaching Centre in Lahore at different times. However, the response to this move has been far from unanimous. The Alpine Club of Pakistan, which, like the Tenpin Bowling Federation, is not affiliated with the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), has voiced strong objections. The Club claims the PSB’s decision violates its internal constitution and governance framework, raising concerns about procedural overreach.
In contrast, the Pakistan Bodybuilding Federation (PBF) a POA-affiliated body, has shown a more cooperative stance, aligning with the POA’s position on election oversight. President Pakistan Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (affiliated with all international bodies, Olympic Council of Asia and POA), Tariq Pervaiz, said that under instructions of the international body and as per the constitution, the federation has conducted its elections in June 2022 with the tenure of elected office-bearers ending in 2026. “All affiliated units, Army, Wapda, HEC, Railways, Police, all provinces participated and elected office-bearers for the next term. The elections were conducted under the supervision of the POA with which we are affiliated. For almost 50 years now, this federation is affiliated with the Asian and world bodies.”
Tariq Pervaiz said that they were not in the picture about these elections. “ Our is a legal federation as it participates in all recognised national and international events, including the National Games, South Asian Games. No parallel federation is allowed to compete in any national or international event. Promoting parallel bodies would only complicate and decimate sports structure in the country,” Tariq Pervaiz who is also President of Asian Federation Disciplinary Committee, said.
He feared that promoting parallel bodies would endanger the holding of the National Games and even SA Games in days to come. “All genuine bodies only look to us when it comes to generating bodybuilding activities in Pakistan.”
“I am not sure whether the PSB has got the required information and recommendations from the POA, Provincial Olympic Associations on the genuine bodies working in the respective areas. I have communicated this to all concerned, including the President POA,” he said. According to the announced schedule by the Election Commission of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), the elections for the Alpine Club of Pakistan will be held at 10:00 AM, followed by the Pakistan Bodybuilding Federation elections at 2:30 PM, and the Pakistan Tenpin Bowling Federation elections at 4:00 PM.
The Election Commission has directed that all nomination papers, voter lists, and objections must be submitted by June 12 at the PSB headquarters in Islamabad.
The scrutiny of nominations will also take place on June 12 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and the provisional voter list and list of candidates will be issued the same day at 2:00 PM. The deadline for submitting objections is set for 10:00 AM on June 13, with decisions on those objections to be announced by 12:00 PM the same day. The final voter list and candidate list will be published at 3:00 PM on June 13. The Election Commission, headed by Waseem Majeed Malik, has clarified that all proceedings on election day will be broadcast live.
Alpine Club of Pakistan has also expressed its concern in a letter written to the Director General PSB on June 4 (copy of which is available with The News). The letter says: “We would like to reiterate our concerns and anomalies expressed in our earlier communications from time to time. We have also been apprising about the legitimacy of the current Executive Board till end of December, 2025 as when questioned by PSB/IPC as and when questioned. It may be recalled that PSB, while considering ACP’s request for issuance of a NoC for participation abroad, raised a question about the legitimacy of the current Office Bearers (Executive Board), which was addressed satisfactorily. After that, PSB issued NoC, which implies they do not have any objection to the legitimacy of the current Executive Board.
