Bangladesh News

Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed yesterday stood down as chairman of National Sports Council (NSC), citing personal reasons.

His resignation from the sports’ top governing body follows the controversy over Bangladesh Football Federation’s sponsorship deal with Bashundhara Group.

The general came in for criticism for his presence in the last week’s deal signing ceremony between BFF President Kazi Salahuddin and Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, who was convicted of corruption in absentia during the caretaker government rule.

Moeen took the sports council’s helm following a presidential order on July 8, 2007.

Now that an elected government is in power, his leaving the post was not much unexpected as the NSC chairmanship is a constitutional prerogative of the sports minister.

In his reaction, State Minister for Youth and Sports Ahad Ali Sarkar yesterday said, “He [Gen Moeen] assumed the responsibility when the nation was going through a critical juncture, and tried his best for the betterment of sports.”

Sarkar, who will take over automatically unless a presidential order states otherwise, however noted, “To strengthen democracy, sports leadership should be at the hands of politicians.”

During his nearly two years’ stint at the NSC, Gen Moeen held elections to all sports federations including BFF and Bangladesh Cricket Board. He also had 20 banks to support 19 cash-starved federations.