New Delhi: The Pakistan government has reversed national hockey team captain Ammad Shakeel Butt’s ban imposed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), terming the decision as “illegal and unconstitutional”.
Just before quitting his post as PHF president on Thursday, Tariq Bugti banned Butt for two years for his outburst against the PHF mismanagement during the controversial Australia tour.
But patron-in-chief, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-appointed interim PHF boss, Muhuydin Ahmed Wani, revoked the decision, stating it was an “illegal and unconstitutional step” by Bugti.
Bugti quit on Thursday in the wake of a huge controversy after the Pakistan hockey team’s return from Australia, where they faced logistical issues, including food and shelter.
The players spent hours on the streets after landing in Australia and stayed in Airbnb residences despite the state-run Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) granting 10 million rupees to the PHF for a five-star hotel stay of the team during its FIH Pro League matches in Canberra.
A senior official of the Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry (which takes care of sports-related issues) confirmed that Prime Minister Sharif had immediately accepted Bugti’s resignation and appointed Wani as ad-hoc president of PHF and Brig Musratullah as Director-General.
A senior bureaucrat, Wani, was the secretary of the ministry.
“Both will manage hockey affairs on an ad-hoc basis and try to repair the damage done,” he said.
Butt’s explosive media interaction exposed PHF mismanagement
After returning home in the early hours of Wednesday, Butt and some other senior players addressed the media at the airport and expressed their displeasure, stating that they can’t work any further with the current management of PHF and the team management.
Butt revealed shocking details about how the players were fed lies and told to stay silent about their problems in Australia. Following the emotional outburst, Bugti banned Butt for two years from international and domestic hockey.
Butt slammed the PHF and disclosed that the players were forced “to clean the kitchen and wash dishes” before going out to play matches without proper preparation and rest. Unsurprisingly, Pakistan lost all its matches of the FIH Pro League against the home team and Germany.
Butt also revealed how the team spent hours on the road after the designated hotel declined the team entry for lack of an advance payment by the PHF, despite the body receiving the requisite funds from the PSB.
The media were also told that some of the players haven’t recieved daily allowances from the PSB and PHF for the last year.
However, Bugti shifted the blame to PSB, insisting that the Board handled all the arrangements for the tour and was “responsible for whatever happened there”.
With eight defeats in as many matches in the FIH Pro League, Pakistan are placed last in the nine-team competition.
The Men In Green are set to travel to Egypt after four months to take part in the final qualifying tournament for the World Cup.
(With PTI Inputs)