Ahmed Jan, famous for his aggressive attitude and bold decisions, is a Pakistan-based former referee of Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA). He officiated several international football matches as referee. He was born in Karachi in a traditional Pashtoon family on March 23, 1950. Recently, The News Tribe talked to him. Here are excerpts of his interview.
TNT: Would you please tell us about your childhood?
Ahmed Jan: Well! I born in an underprivileged Pashtoon family living in small house near Baba-e-Urdu road. My father was an employee of Karachi Municipal Corporation and his salary was just Rs90. I faced poverty in my childhood, Airplanes, flying in air and at that time newly constructed Pearl Continental Hotel adjoining Polo Ground often compelled me to think that would I travel by air or have meal in the hotel. At that time, I prayed to Allah Almighty to fulfill my desires and wishes and I am very thankful to my Allah that he not only fulfilled my wishes but also bestowed with what I don’t deserve or can think of.
TNT: You are considered a very aggressive personality, why?
Ahmed Jan: No, I don’t think I am an aggressive person. But I don’t compromise on principles. People who do not know me deeply are right to consider me an aggressive person. Actually, an incident during a match made me famous. (he said while smiling). I am the only referee in the world who fired shots in the ground amid a match. That was a football match of national championship between teams of National Bank of Pakistan Karachi and a local club of Sukkur. During that match a player of a team protested a decision against their team, resultantly I showed him red card and sent him out of ground. Then four other players consecutively repeated the same exercise and me too. Then there was no chance of match’s continuity after expulsion of five players of a team. The affected team planned to beat me. They were proceeding towards me in aggressive posture, when I took my pistol out and fired three aerial gunshots to safeguard myself because at that time there was no concept of Law Enforcement Agencies’ deployment during match.
TNT: Did you escaped a life attempt too in past?
Ahmed Jan: Yes, I received five bullets to save the KMC ground. Once a “party” offered me Rs.4 million to let them encroach, the football stadium of KMC. I refused and received life threats. One day their thugs came and opened fire on me. I am very proud of that I received bullets in my chest not back. To me the ground of football is tantamount to my mother’s (he said after sending out a flying kiss to the ground.)
TNT: Please tell us something about the history of football game in Pakistan?
Ahmed Jan: Football was a famous game in Pakistan since its inception. Tremendous talent was and even now exist in the country. In 1948, Olympics was organized in the London. At that time a joint team used to participate from the sub-continent. Two players from Pakistan were selected for the team and one out of them, Taj Senior from Quetta was selected as the captain of the team.
TNT: Would you like to shed light on the rise and fall of football in the country?
Ahmed Jan: Football’s fans remained in the region since long. The first 23 years of Pakistan were the golden era of football in Pakistan. Our players demonstrated outstanding performances, despite the fact that all of them belonged to very poor families and except one or two all the players remained engage in blue-collared jobs including working as a loader on port or mason. Often they used to play football without shoes.
In August 1964 Turkey’s national team came to Karachi, where a match was organized with a local team. Pakistani local team had a lead of four goals in the first half. District Football Association (DFA) Karachi General Secretary Peer Bux Baloch came to the players and said Turkish team is an international level team and it would face embracement, if we defeat them with such a margin. To safeguard their honor is our primary duty as now they are our guest so in my opinion we should provide them with an opportunity to make four goals in second half to draw the match. All the players agreed and the match was drawn. Similarly in 1967 Pakistani football team defeated Iran with a lead of 11 goals. Now Iran is a participant of football world cup, but we are not. One can imagine the standard of the game in Pakistani in pre 1070s through these facts and statistics.
TNT: Would you like to propose some measures to boost the game?
Ahmed Jan: The government should be serious in promotion of football game. I am so much confident that football could be revived in the country and within one decade Pakistan could become one of the leading countries in football world cup.
First of all corruption should be eliminated from the sports sector. There is no business of politicians in the administration of Pakistan Football Federation, they should quit immediately. Members of executives should be doubled and new members should be elected or selected from private corporate sector. Representatives of corporate organizations will not only bear the expenses of football but also promote the football game and none could challenge the transparency of utilization of funds as donors would be the part of executive council.
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