PM’s youth sports league event marred by mismanagement and politics

ISLAMABAD: “On a rainy morning in July, the news of my selection as a footballer in the Prime Minister’s National Youth Sports League brought me excitement. I was to be a guest at the ceremony hosted by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, scheduled for August 5 at the Punjab Sports Board Football Ground in Lahore. However, my dreams quickly turned to disappointment when I, along with dozens of players, experienced a day of mistreatment at the said event and venue.”

This account comes from a young footballer attending a public sector university in Islamabad, who had been chosen to participate in the National Youth Sports League matches, part of the PM’s Youth Programme and National Talent Hunt Youth Sports League. “The supposed honour of being part of this prestigious event turned into a grueling experience of being treated like beggars, as we were instructed to stand under the scorching sun without any explanation,” the footballer shared with Hum News on condition of anonymity.

“We were left waiting for hours, clueless about the purpose of our wait. We endured the entire day without proper sustenance, receiving lunch only around 5 o’clock. There was no water available, and we were not allowed to bring our own supplies from outside.”

Around 25 public universities, including three from Islamabad, were involved in organizing sports events as part of this project. However, this mistreatment wasn’t isolated to just one participant. The entire gathering seemed less like a sports league ceremony and more like a political assembly of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

Three sports—hockey, football, and volleyball— were part of this league. Over 2,000 students from various schools and universities were invited to participate in the ceremony, but they all faced the same poor treatment. The stadium was packed with participants, and due to security concerns, participants were asked to leave the ground, leading to a chaotic and mismanaged scene. Manual security checks added to the confusion.

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Despite its intended purpose, the ceremony seemed to be more about political gains. Prominent party figures occupied the stage, including former provincial minister Rana Mashood Ahmed, MNA Nuzhat Sadiq, and others. This disrupted the schedule, causing inconvenience to the actual participants who had been waiting the entire day.

Special guests Olympians Shehbaz Senior and Khawaja Junaid were present but, as sources revealed, were treated as ordinary attendees during the event. They even left the ground prematurely due to inadequate seating arrangements.

It was disclosed later that PM Shahbaz Sharif expressed reluctance to attend the ceremony due to security concerns arising from potential backlash to the recent government decision to hike in oil prices and the arrest of former prime minister in the Toshakhana case.

Despite the efforts of the entire bureaucracy, civil administration, and Punjab Sports Board, the event bore the influence of Rana Mashood, who took charge of the organization and also chaired a meeting despite the fact that he has no official portfolio to hold such meetings.

Approximately Rs7 million were spent on the ceremony through the Higher Education Commission (HEC), with a specific vendor, Waqas Traders, overseeing the arrangements—a vendor reportedly favored by the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister.

Efforts to reach SAPM Shaza Fatima for comments on the issue remained unsuccessful.