Tribal Athletes Decry Lack of Full-Time Sports Director in Merged Districts

In their conversation with media representatives, they termed the prolonged delay as shocking and disappointing.

PESHAWAR – Athletes and coaches from the tribal districts have expressed serious concerns over the absence of a full-time director for the Sports Directorate of the merged districts, a key Grade-19 post that has remained vacant for the past eight months.

In their conversation with media representatives, they termed the prolonged delay as shocking and disappointing. 

The additional charge of the directorate was recently handed to Dera Ismail Khan’s Regional Sports Officer, Raziullah Betani, who is stationed hundreds of kilometers away from Peshawar, where the directorate’s office is located.

Athletes alleged that Betani spends most of his time in D.I. Khan and fails to ensure sports activities or provide facilities in the tribal districts. They further accused him of using the merged districts' funds, vehicles, and fuel for organizing events in settled areas, ignoring projects meant for tribal regions and depriving deserving players of equipment and support.

Officials from various sports associations joined the call for appointing a competent full-time Sports Director exclusively for the merged districts and demanded that Betani be sent back to his original post in D.I. Khan.

Attempts to reach Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sports Minister Syed Fakhar Jahan and his PS Hanif Dawar for comment went unanswered.

In response, Raziullah Betani stated that his absence from office was due to his involvement in the Dera Jat Games. He claimed that several sports projects for the merged districts had been submitted for approval and would be implemented once funds were released. He also expressed willingness to relinquish one of his dual responsibilities if necessary but hinted that he might soon be promoted to take on the full-time director’s role for the merged districts.