KARACHI: The Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBF) supervised elections for the Sindh Basketball Association (SBBA) on Tuesday here at a local restaurant, with former Sindh government secretary Ali Hasan Brohi elected unanimously as president, but the outcome was immediately dismissed as void by a rival faction that termed the process as bogus.

The election meeting, chaired by PBF secretary general Khalid Bashir, was attended by representatives from all six divisional basketball associations of Sindh, according to a statement issued by the newly-elected body. Asghar Baloch represented the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) at the meeting.

Ali Hasan, who takes over from Ghulam Abbas Jamal Chaudhry, said the association’s priority would be the promotion of basketball among youth with a special focus on interior Sindh.

Dleep Singh of Mirpurkhas was elected secretary, while Yaqoob Qadry of Karachi was elected senior vice-president. Arshad Saeed (vice-president), Raja Sheeraz (treasurer), Sahir Hussain (executive member) and Shabbir Chandio (executive member) were also elected.

However, the faction led by outgoing president Ghulam Abbas Jamal and secretary Aamir Sharif, in a statement to Dawn, dismissed the elections.

“The PBF conducted the vote on Tuesday without any prior schedule at an undisclosed location and neither media nor sports circles had been informed [about it],” they claimed.

The timing of the election is significant. The SBBA had last held elections on July 18, 2025 — a process that itself was challenged at the time by the Karachi Basketball Association, whose secretary Yaqoob Qadry had termed those polls “so-called elections” while raising allegations of political interference.

Nearly 11 months later, Qadry has now been elected as senior vice-president in the PBF-supervised process, with the PBF’s oversight lending official recognition to the new body.

The Ghulam Abbas faction also noted that it had filed a case in civil court against the SOA for registration, and said it would file a contempt of court petition against the SOA for participating in the elections.

The outgoing officials said their SBBA was working in an organised manner and expressed confidence that the newly formed body would not last.

The PBF has not yet commented on the objections raised by the rival faction.

The newly elected office-bearers reaffirmed their commitment to the development and promotion of basketball across Sindh, with secretary Dleep stating that the association’s development programme would be announced soon in consultation with the executive committee.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2026