ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Sports Board Director General Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera flouted directives of the Interior Ministry and Indian External Ministry and travelled by road to Lahore from Islamabad and crossed Wahga border with POA officials on Thursday morning.
Ministries of both the countries have issued directives not to travel through road due to safety concerns. Ganjera had delivered a long lecture during the farewell reception held at PSB, prior to the departure of the contingents, defending long routes as best and only viable option. But he, himself, flouted the orders and opted for travelling through short-route and crossed Wahga border to reach the destination.
When this correspondent contacted POA President Lt-Gen (r) Syed Arif Hassan to seek his comment about this issue, he didn't bother to respond or reply despite several attempts.
Ganjera also managed to take his hometown-mate M Fayaz to India. Fayyaz was first showed as massager of the wrestling team, but when the claim proved wrong, he was presented as an admin official. How could an illiterate person, who doesn't know the ABC of administration, be an admin officer? questioned by a source in the PSB.
On the other hand, an official informed that another blue-eyed daily-wager at swimming pool, Shabana was once again dropped due to extreme media pressure, while IPC secretary M Ali Gardezi, who was also chef de mission and was supposed to travel on February 2, was dropped and replaced by former Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui.
The players and officials including coaches had to go through 17 hours journey with a lot of pain and agony, while on the other hand, the top sports officials have used shortest route with hefty perks and privileges. A number of other blue-eyed persons were also stopped at the 11th hour due to intense pressure after the story was leaked.
The sources pointed out that merit was violated and injustice was done with the eligible players. "Internationally experienced archer Idree Majeed was denied India visas which could hamper Pakistan's chances of winning gold medal in the South Asian Games.
The sources informed that injustice was also done with a few basketball players who didn't have the blessings of movers and shakers. "Five players were selected from national basketball championship winners Army, two from losing finalists Wapda, three from PAF and two from HEC, but in the last moments, only one player from Wapda was retained, while four players from PAF were inducted in the SAG-bound squad. Wapda's Yawar Khan, lone representative from highly-ignored province Balochistan, was dropped without giving any reasons."
The sources urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take notice of the irregularities and take the culprits to task for depriving the eligible players of representing the country in the South Asian Games.