PPP's Shehla Raza elected as first woman President of Pakistan's Hockey body

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Shehla Raza was elected as the first woman President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Wednesday.

However, following her appointment, the Congress of PHF split into two factions and one of them rejected her appointment and the election process as well.

The former speaker Provincial Assembly was elected unanimously by members of Congress in the meeting held on Tuesday in Karachi, ahead of another congress meeting in Islamabad on Thursday where Tariq Hussain Bugti will be endorsed as President.

Bugti was named by the caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar for ad-hoc PHF President after approving the request for the replacement of former hockey body chief Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, who was serving since 2015.

Bugti group also declared elections null and void as no representative from the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) attended the meeting.

The meeting was convened by Secretary PHF Haider Hussain and was attended by 54 congress members, who elected Shuja Iqbal Raja as Finance Secretary of the Federation as well. 

On the other hand, following clinching the top position, Shehla announced the appointment of Olympian Samiullah Khan as an advisor to the President of PHF, directing the scrutiny committee to complete the process of his appointment in two months. 

The former provincial minister expressed gratitude to the PHF members for her unopposed selection and vowed to formulate a comprehensive strategy to deal with the problems that the federation has been facing for years.