NA body wants sports federations to be made independent

ISLAMABAD, Jan 30 (APP):The National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Tuesday recommended that sports federations should be made independent and their funds must be enhanced for promoting sports activities.
The IPC meeting was held here at the Parliament House under the Chairmanship of Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan in which briefing was given on hockey affairs by Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Shahbaz Ahmed Sr.
He said that a National Hockey Center was needed in order to attract youth towards the game. “By establishing a National Hockey Center it would improve the game” “These days kids are more focused on cricket,” he said.
The committee also recommended that PHF must bring in private sponsors for boosting the game of hockey in the country.
In the meeting, comprehensive briefing was also given on Livestock and Dairy Development, Animal Quarantine Department regarding export of animals to Iran and Afghanistan through Baluchistan, Establishment of independent and permanent Secretariat of Council of Common Interest (CCI) with Provincial representation, Working and performance of IPC, and HEC over the scholarship quota for veterinary education (Clinical Purposes).
In the meeting, the IPC Minister briefed the committee about the steps taken by the Ministry for flourishing the sports activities in the country. He also agreed with the Committee that free hand should be given to the hockey federation.
The Committee recommended that the government should initiate steps so that in future, no private school should be awarded NOC without fulfilling the requirement of a reasonable play ground and sports facilities to the students.
Appointing of the new director general Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) was also discussed in the meeting, to which the committee constituted a Sub-Committee to set the criteria for the selection of new Director General.
The Director, Animal Quarantine Department (AQD) apprised the committee that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on a summary moved by the M/o National Food Security and Research imposed ban on the commercial export of live animals since 2013.
The export of processed halal meat to the Muslims countries witnessed a quantum upsurge. Pakistan earned US $ 214.5 million on export of processed/value added meat during 2012-13 as compared to US $ 20 million on export of live animals. The acting Executive Director, Higher Education Commission (HEC) briefed the Committee that the HEC scholarships are open under all major disciplines and there is no bar for candidates to apply under any selected field. He further replied that in compliance of recommendations made by the Committee all the foreign scholarship holders are now bound to get NOC from their respective Pakistani Embassy.
The Committee also recommended that the import of dry milk should be banned in Pakistan. The Committee strongly recommended that the National Testing Services (NTS) should not be approached for the selection of employees for the Ministries as the services of NTS are not upto the mark.
The meeting was attended by Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan, Sardar Muhammad Shafqat Hayat Khan, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Ms. Sabiha Nazir, Dr. Mahreen Razzaque Bhutto, Siraj Muhammad Khan, Mujahid Ali, Engineer Muhammad Usman Badini, Federal Minister and the Officers of the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination, Secretary, Livestock Sind and KPK, Director, AQD, Executive Director, HEC, President, Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC) and others.