KP's Sporting Black Hole: 35 Districts Sufffer as RTI Queries Remain Unanswered

 

The air of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) today is heavy with the customary dust, but for hopeful athletes in the province, another type of dust is settling – the dust of abandonment and broken promises. Though the provincial government loudly espouses "transparency" and "youth development," the ground reality of sports in KP tells a very different story.

Thirty-five districts, with the newly merged tribal ones included, are all meant to be abuzz with sporting action. There is a District Sports Officer (DSO) assigned to each one, and there even is a Directorate specifically for the merged districts. But the stadiums rest quiet, the fields grow weeds, and the aspirations of so many young potential talents are nothing more but dreams.

Reporters and citizens with a cause, empowered by the Right to Information (RTI) Act, set out to investigate. They asked questions: lists of athletes who were receiving benefits under programs, information about competitions conducted, and most importantly, how the sports money allocated was spent. The answers, if they arrived, were unhelpfully opaque, long delayed, or nonexistent.

"Yes, we held events," is the DSOs' standard plaint, usually uttered with a touch of disdain. But if questioned for details – player names, event dates, or expenditure analyses – the files disappear, it seems, into thin air. A few DSOs, feeling bold due to political connections, behave like deputy commissioners, above the law and accountable to no one. Others are just specters, keeping a hands-off public distance, creating a void where openness ought to have flourished. There are no press conferences, no printed performance reports, and not a single indication that taxpayers' money is indeed reaching the athletes it is intended to empower.

The sheer brazenness of some behavior is awesome. In some districts, in the midst of biting winter, fuel monies for generator sets were withdrawn. But no record was kept of where these generators had been deployed, whether at all. Elsewhere, millions were said to have been wasted on "symbolic" or "phantom" events – ghost tournaments that existed only on paper. Today, as the 2024-25 financial year comes to a close, a flurry of last-minute, hastily organized activity is being hurried through, a desperate bid to justify the expenditure of budgets before they expired.

This dark situation occurs in a province that has been governed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for a third term in a row, a government that has consistently expounded on "good governance" and "corruption-free systems." The irony is biting.

The question remains in the minds of most: was the astronomical responsibility of developing sports possibly the sole burden of the Minister, Secretary, or Director General of Sports?

The response is a firm no. The responsibility, or so many people think, lies squarely with the District Sports Officers. They must come out of the shadows. They must submit annual reports, issue media briefings, and stand uncompromisingly and say: How many sports persons were trained? To what extent did they achieve? How were the funds actually expended? What infrastructure has been built at taxpayers' expense?

Until then, sports in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be a discouraging tale of paperwork, perks, and petrol, and not a testimony of players, progress, or purpose. The questions resonate in the vacant stadiums and deserted fields:

Where are the sporting events?

Who are the sports persons?

Where is the transparency?

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