Former national footballer Sheikh Mohammad Aslam cited the lack of a positive working environment inside the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and the attitude of some of the current national players as reasons for his resignation from the executive committee. The former striker, who had been part of the committee since 2008 and headed the SAFF debacle probe committee which made some damning allegations against a few national players, tendered his resignation on Saturday.

"Mamunul [Islam] recently made some allegations against me in media. Mamunul said that since I am a member of Sheikh Jamal DC and that he left the club, I suggested disciplinary measures against him, which is not true at all," the former striker told The Daily Star yesterday.

"Everyone knows I'm not even involved with policymaking of the club and I don't attend the club meetings. What Mamunul said is baseless and I think it is a bid to tarnish the image of former players like us. We have overlooked many transgressions of these players and I guess that is why they are now showing the audacity to raise fingers against us. So I wanted to leave the federation with whatever dignity I still have," said a seemingly frustrated Aslam.

The former footballer also claimed that the BFF had failed to come up with a proper policy to take the game ahead.

"I tried to mobilise the Dhaka Metropolis School Football League, but due to the indifference of the federation, I had to backtrack. The federation has failed to present a proper football policy before the country which is why the game is going backwards. Even the BFF president has always tried to keep us sidetracked," alleged Aslam.

"The federation is now trying to amend its constitution by making government officials ineligible to contest its polls, which is a suicidal decision. In a country like ours, sports need the government's involvement and patronage," said Aslam, who is himself a government official.

However, Aslam said that if the right environment and opportunities return, he would be willing to contest in the upcoming polls of BFF, which are two months away.