Kamal Ghorui
The Pakistan government has overturned the two-year ban imposed on national hockey team captain Ammad Shakeel Butt, calling the action taken by the country’s hockey federation “illegal and unconstitutional”.The ban had been announced by Tariq Bugti shortly before he stepped down as president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation. Butt had criticised the federation over mismanagement during the team’s recent tour of Australia.But the federation’s patron-in-chief, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, appointed interim PHF president Muhuydin Ahmed Wani, who reversed the decision and described it as an “illegal and unconstitutional step” by Bugti.Bugti resigned following a major fallout after the national team returned from Australia, where players faced logistical problems and stayed in Airbnb accommodation despite the Pakistan Sports Board releasing 10 million rupees to the PHF for five-star hotel arrangements during their FIH Pro League matches in Canberra.A senior official from the Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry confirmed that Prime Minister Sharif accepted Bugti’s resignation and appointed Wani as ad-hoc PHF president along with Brig Musratullah as Director-General.“Both will manage hockey affairs on ad-hoc basis and try to repair the damage done,” the official said, as cited by news agency PTI.After the team returned home early Wednesday, Butt and several senior players told reporters they could no longer work with the existing PHF and team management. Butt said players were misled and warned against speaking to the media about their problems in Australia. He was then banned by Bugti for bringing Pakistan hockey into disrepute.Butt had also accused the PHF of forcing players “to clean the kitchen and wash dishes” before matches during the tour, in which the team lost all its Pro League games against the home side and Germany. Players were also left travelling for hours after a hotel refused them entry due to lack of advance payment by the PHF, despite funds from the PSB.He further alleged that most players had not received daily allowances from the PSB and PHF for the past year.Bugti blamed the PSB for the episode, saying the Board handled tour arrangements and was “responsible for whatever happened there”.Pakistan have lost all eight of their Pro League matches so far against Netherlands, Argentina, Australia and Germany, and are last among nine teams.They are scheduled to travel to Egypt in four months for the final qualifying tournament for the World Cup.
