Staff Report LAHORE: Former woman hockey player Neelma Hussain has served a legal notice on the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for levelling allegations of human smuggling on herself and her husband as the PHF secretary general Shahbaz Senior categorically denied the allegation. Neelma said on Wednesday that the PHF had wrongly accused her husband Aamir Salman, a hockey organiser and owner of Tiger Club in Islamabad, and herself of involvement in human smuggling. “We had never sought any NOC from the PHF to take any team abroad nor did we drop anyone in any other country.” She said her husband was a prominent organiser of indoor hockey and staged some events in Islamabad with the approval of the Islamabad Hockey Association. She alleged that in fact a hockey mafia was behind the nasty allegations and the same mafia had also committed a fraud with her family. She disclosed that one Bilal Shabbir, an ordinary hockey player who is working in a private bank, had requested her family to open a joint bank account with his bank. “But later we found that an amount of Rs 20 lacs had been withdrawn from our joint account. A case has been registered and FIA is investigating it. Four employees of that branch have been suspended including Bilal Shabbir,” she said. “But now a mafia patronised by the PHF wants to pressurise her family and for that reason it has levelled the allegations of human smuggling.” She further said that some hockey players having influence in the PHF were also giving life threats to her for which another case has been registered. She alleged local police was also supporting that mafia. Neelma asserted that the PHF would have to reply to her notice within 14 days otherwise it would face the court. Meanwhile, PHF secretary Shahbaz when contacted to comment on the row, said that the federation had not levelled any such allegations on Neelma’s family. He said in fact, the PHF received a letter from NAB in which human smuggling matter was mentioned and the name of the said family was also written. “As a precautionary step, the PHF has only intimated all its affiliated units about the NAB’s letter, with no allegation of human smuggling on that family,” maintained Shahbaz. “However, for the time being, the Tiger Club has been banned and it will not enjoy an affiliation with the Islamabad Hockey Association till the matter is settled.” Shahbaz said he did not know even who was Bilal Shabbir but added that NAB took the action on a complaint registered by Bilal.