Syed Arif Hasan will stand for a fourth term as President of the Pakistan Olympic Association ©POA

Syed Arif Hasan will stand for a fourth term as President of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) on January 23 in an election hailed as key for uniting sport in the country.

Pakistani sport has been in a fractious state in recent times and the country came close to a suspension from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2014 before steps were taken to improve relations between warring bodies.

This culminated in the POA returning to their headquarters at Olympic House in Lahore after an agreement was reached between the body and a rebel group led by Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) President Akram Sahi.

Sahi, who once led a parallel National Olympic Committee, had occupied the building since September 2013 in protest against Arif's leadership.

The AFP, as well as the Pakistan Judo Federation, Pakistan Cycling Federation and the Pakistan Netball Federation, all also split from the POA, although they remained recognised by their respective International Federations.

A meeting with Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah in Lausanne in October helped to remedy the tensions and all four Federations have been invited to participate in the elections. 

Arif, a former general in the Pakistani army, has led the POA since 2004 and has also served as one of 10 OCA vice-presidents since 2007.

The agreement comes after the POA returned to their headquarters building in Lahore ©POA
The agreement comes after the POA returned to their headquarters building in Lahore ©POA

One priority will be negotiating the return of the Federations into the POA-fold.

“The first clause of the agreement has already been implemented as [the] Akram Sahi group handed over keys to the Olympic House to POA a few days ago in the presence of IOC and OCA observers," he said.

“But they still have not withdrawn the frivolous cases filed in different courts of law against the POA.

"They have to fulfil all the conditions in the agreement.

"Once they fulfil the agreement, these national Federations are likely to be re-admitted into the Olympic fold after approval of the POA General Council."

He has also prioritised participating in next month's South Asian Games in the Indian cities of Guwahati and Shillong from February 6 to 16.

A delegation is currently meeting with Indian authorities in Islamabad to negotiate the Pakistani presence between the two rival Asian nations, with Arif planning to send a 400-strong team competing across 20 sports. 

No rival candidate has yet emerged.