Following an attack at the Football House building in Lahore by the Ashfaq Shah-led group, FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, has given a 24-hour ultimatum to Shah to end the hostile takeover of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) headquarters failing to which the country’s federation will face suspension.
According to a statement released by the PFF, the Football House building was attacked by Shah and his group members on Saturday.
As per reports, the members of the group took over the PFF house, harassed the staff members and took away the cheque books.
PFF’s statement also said that FIFA warns of suspension of football activities in Pakistan if the forceful takeover is not lifted.
“While FIFA strongly condemns the incidents and considers such actions to be totally unacceptable, we would like to remind all relevant parties, in particular the individuals who invaded the PFF premises, that the Normalisation Committee of PFF, established by a decision of the Bureau of the Council and later ratified by the FIFA Council, and which is currently led by your person, is the sole executive body of PFF recognised by FIFA,” read the statement.
Significantly, Haroon Malik, the PFF Normalisation Committee (NC) chairman had alleged that the attack was led by former PFF President Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah and his aides.
After the incident, the PFF has halted the ongoing 2021 Women’s National Championship.