KARACHI: The announcement by the chairman of Pakistan’s senate earlier this week to build two state-of-the-art football stadiums in Balochistan has elicited a mixed response from the impoverished and football-crazy province.
While some said they were elated with the news, others questioned whether the government had the adequate measures in place to see through their promise.
On Tuesday, Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani announced plans to construct two state-of-the-art footballfacilities in Quetta and Gwadar.
Reacting to the news, Muhammad Kashif Baloch, champion of the Socca World Cup held in Portugal and a footballplayer from Machh — a small town in the Bolan district of the Balochistan province -- said that the initiative was “great news”. “Football is everything for us. It’s our life,” he said.
Baloch is a fine example of how players from underprivileged backgrounds can overcome adversity and carve a name for themselves, despite a lack of proper training or facilities. “If we can prove ourselves in tough conditions, imagine where the grounds with lush surface could take us,” he said.
Reminiscing a time when he used to earn his livelihood by working in the minefields before becoming a professional football player, Baloch said: “I would arrive in the mine at 8 in the morning and continue to work till 5:30.” Once done with the day’s work he would join his friends at the local grounds and play football until dusk.
Kaleemullah Khan, former captain of the Pakistan national team, who now plays for the Turkish fourth-division club Igdirspor in Istanbul, celebrated the announcement, too. “Most of the talent comes from Balochistan but matches of the Pakistan Premier Leagues are being played in Lahore, Multan and Karachi,” the former skipper complained, adding that once football stadiums are built based on international standards, Pakistan will be on top ofits game.
“I as a footballer, who has been playing internationally, can understand how much the grounds will boost this game, which is a craze for the people of Balochistan. Even grounds in other provinces have no facilities for the players,” Khan, who hails from Chaman, also known as mini Brazil, said. He added that if not for Balochistan, there would hardly be any exceptional football players representing Pakistan on the international stage.
However, those on the ground seemed unaware of when the plans to build the stadiums would take shape, while Sanjrani failed to respond to queries about the feasibility of the project.
Former senator Rubina Irfan, vice-president of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) and head of the women’s wing, said that she was unaware if any concrete measures were in place. “I will contact Sadiq Sanjrani and then comment,” she said. Irfan is also member of the national assembly and her party the Pakistan Muslim League-Q is Pakistan Tehreef-e-Insaf’s coalition partner.
Meanwhile, Fahad Ayaz Khan, Deputy General Secretary of the PFF, added that he too was unaware of any updates on the initiative. “The government has not contacted us for any infrastructural development over the last several years, though we hope that Prime Minister Imran Khan will take concrete steps for the promotion of football as youths are central in his party’s manifesto. Currently, there is no football stadium of international standard in Pakistan,” he told Arab News.
Khan added that the prerequisites for an international football facility included the provision of an astroturf, for the ground to be of a certain size, changing rooms, training facilities and warm-ups areas, fencing, seating arrangements and an administration block. “Unfortunately, there is no stadium in Pakistan which fulfills these requirements,” he said, adding that the astroturf itself would cost a minimum of Rs60million, which the federation is unable to afford.
Adding to the list of current issues faced by the PFF, Khan said that Lahore has a Punjab football stadium which the federation has to rent to use as it doesn’t belong to the PFF. “Similarly, the Jinnah Sports Stadium in Islamabad is owned by the Pakistan Sports Board,” he said.
Kaleemullah, however, continues to be optimistic, arguing that if succeeding governments can construct roads despite financial constraints, they can afford to spend some money on building stadiums and hospitals too, as this would ensure more people had a choice to opt for a healthy lifestyle.
“We find hundreds of youth becoming drug addicts and other steering towards crimes and terrorism. Instead of spending on hospitals and jails, a little investment on grounds in Balochistan will rid us of that,” he said.
