Karim urges for unity

Newly elected directors of Mohammedan SC Limited greet their president Obaidul Karim (C) after the AGM held at a local hotel yesterday.Photo: STAR

Newly elected president Obaidul Karim yesterday urged all the members of Mohammedan SC Limited to bury differences of opinion in a bid to turn the club into a strong, viable, profitable and international-standard organisation.
Karim urged it at the club's first annual general meeting at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel yesterday and at a time when some proven organisers skipped the election in the demand for a consensus committee.
Of the 213 stakeholders of the club, some 125 members attended the AGM which was presided over by independent president AMM Bahauddin while the aggrieved faction, who opted out of the election, did not turn up in the general meeting as well. The newly elected board of directors took office yesterday, with the daunting challenge of turning the club's fortune and in the absence of some proven organisers.
Karim, who was a member of Mohammedan's governing body, has set two targets -- to bring financial solvency and to bring back the past glory through winning trophies in different disciplines.
For the last few years Mohammedan have been going through acute financial crisis and their successes in football, cricket and hockey has been lean over this period. With a view to overcoming the financial crisis, the club turned into a limited company earlier this year and they aim to partially solve the crisis by commercially utilising the land it possesses in downtown Motijheel.
“Mohammedan is not an asset of any individual, rather it is a history, a belief, a sense of pride and I feel proud to be associated with such an institution and these things will certainly inspire me a lot to work as the club's president,” said Karim, also chairman of Orion Group.
Karim believes that the club needs to introduce modern technology, training facilities and build an academy in a bid to increase the standard the players.
The newly elected board of directors will sit for a meeting on September 24 to decide the next course of action where the responsibility of directors is expected to be distributed.
“Since we all love this club, there may arise differences of opinion, differences of principle among the members. But one thing that should unite all the members is the interest of the club.
“Irrespective of parties, opinions and beliefs, I urge all the members, including those who skipped the election, to come under an umbrella to work together in a bid to develop the club because it is not possible for the directors to do it all alone,” said Karim at a press briefing at following a brief meeting of the board of directors after the completion of AGM.
Organisers like Abdus Salam Murshedy, Mahbub Anam, Badal Roy, Mustaqur Rahman, Sajed AA Adel, Shariful Alam, Lutfur Rahman Badal have long been associated with the club and have assisted the club in various capacities but all of them skipped the election after failing to form a consensus committee.
Replying to a query, Karim said, “I initially welcomed the concept of consensus committee. However not everything is over yet and I am hopeful of working with everyone and I have already started to communicate with them. As a president, I urge them to come and discuss the matter.”