Newly elected president of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah has requested FIFA to send a fact-finding committee to investigate matters that lead up to the elections in the PFF instead of suspending it. Football’s governing body FIFA has threatened the PFF with a ban and said that the elections held on Supreme Court’s orders are considered as third party interference in the affairs of the PFF. However, Shah said that FIFA must investigate the matter before deciding anything. “We want FIFA to send a fact-finding committee. We will formally write to them with this request,” he said while speaking to media in Karachi. “We will also send our delegations to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA to share with them our point of view,” he said, adding: “FIFA and AFC must know what happened in Pakistan and how Faisal Saleh Hayat dealt with football and why elections were held.” Shah further said that despite the ban, the PFF would continue to work on improving the standard of football domestically so that Pakistan is prepared. “We aren’t here for any personal goals, we are here for the interest of Pakistan football and our footballers,” he said. Published in Daily Times, January 13th 2019.