Salman Butt, who served as the former president of Punjab Athletics Association has been banned by Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) because he broke the rules of the federation. They have also banned Habib Shah who was the former secretary-general of the same association along with him. As per the official notification Salman Butt is not going to be allowed to engage in any sport event related to athletics at any national or international level. This involves participating as either player, coach, official or a representative of any kind.
Salman Butt, most notably, used to coach the Olympic gold medalist in the javelin throw of Pakistan Arshad Nadeem. The AFP however made it clear that the prohibition of Salman Butt has nothing to do with his performance as the coach of Arshad Nadeem or the performance of the athlete in recent times. The federation wrote that in the elections of Punjab athletics association, which was conducted under the supervision of Salman Butt, a number of violations of rules were detected. The executive committee of the federation was convinced after looking into the case to ban him permanently. The committee also made the elections which were conducted on August 31, 2025, illegal, unconstitutional, and void.
The Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) has imposed a lifetime ban on Salman Butt, coach of Olympic gold medallist Arshad Nadeem, citing “gross violations” of the federation’s constitution.https://t.co/Xhd3MwcKU0#DialoguePakistan #AFP #Imposed #Banned #ArshadNadeem pic.twitter.com/ldIG7aYOFQ
— Dialogue Pakistan (@DialoguePak) October 12, 2025
The news about this ban created a ripple effect in social media where numerous people conjectured that the move might be related to the recent deterioration in performance of Arshad Nadeem. It is interesting to note that Arshad has won 10 th at the javelin throw final in the world athletics championship in Tokyo last month. However, Brigadier (Retd.) Wajahat Hussain who is the president of the athletics federation of Pakistan dismissed these assumptions saying that the decision against Salman Butt was made simply because he had breached the constitution of the federation.
He has also indicated that this disciplinary action was simply against his conduct as the ex-president of the Punjab Athletics Association and had no relation to the performance of an athlete Arshad Nadeem or his coaching.
BBC Urdu had made a number of attempts to reach out to Salman Butt to provide him with the opportunity to narrate his version of the story but he has yet to respond. The federation on the other hand claimed that the move was essential in bringing transparency, discipline and fair play in the management of athletics in Pakistan.
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