J&K Sports Council reduced to an event management company: Waheed Parra

Jammu, Mar 17: People's Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Waheed ur Rehman Parra on Monday slammed the Jammu & Kashmir Sports Council, calling it an event management body.

Speaking on demands for grants related to Youth Services and Sports, Parra said that the Council had been reduced to an event management company over the last 7 years.

Parra claimed that the department had not done a single event for the cause of sports.

Highlighting the unifying spirit of sports, Parra said it is a field where people share common heroes, experiencing joy and sorrow together.

"When we were engaged in the traitors - martyrs debate, it was because we don't have common role models. But sports is the only field where we laugh and cry together", Parra said.

He, however, added that the department had shifted its focus from quality to quantity.

"The quantitative events are being held, while the quality is missing", Parra said.

He accused the Sports Council of carrying out the projects designed to project normalcy.

Calling it mere optics, Parra criticized the Sports Council, saying that an institution meant to promote sports excellence had been reduced to an event management company.

"You make children perform in front of visiting dignitaries, turning it into a mere spectacle," Parra said.

He said that the main cause of sports had been harmed by the same department itself.

Parra claimed that the achievements of not a single sports person were acknowledged over the last 7 years.

"In the last 7 years, not even one outstanding sports person has been appointed", Parra said.

He said that fake sports were promoted, while the competent players were sidelined.

Quoting sportspersons like Parvaiz Rasool, Aabid Nabi, Pallak Kour, and others, Parra said the government should seek insights on the state of sports in Jammu and Kashmir directly from these sportspersons.

Parra also said that sports stadiums were being  constructed without staff and infrastructure.