Government lukewarm on filling CII posts

Raja Zafar says many controversies erupted since chairman took charge

ISLAMABAD: The government seems to be least interested in filling vacant posts on the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), ostensibly because of lawmakers’ recent scathing criticism of the body. Ten seats on the CII have been vacant since January this year.

A day ago, a Senate committee questioned the legal standing of the CII while blaming it for an uptick in cases of violence against women across the country. The committee, chaired by MQM Senator Nasreen Jalil, observed that CII’s ‘anti-women’ stance was promoting violence against women, besides contributing to a massive increase in gender-based crimes.



Currently, Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani of the JUI-F is the chairman and working with only 10 members, who were absent during its monthly meeting.

Sources in the law ministry told The Express Tribune that since the retirement of 10 members, the ministry had forwarded 31 names to the prime minister, who is the competent authority. But, they said, the government seemed to be least interested.

A senior government official, who requested anonymity, said that the recent controversial statements of the CII chairman had “forced the government to keep the posts vacant”. The government, he said, had adopted a wait-and-see policy until the expiry of the tenure of the current chairman, who will retire on December 31 next year.

Leader of House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq told The Express Tribune that the CII was a constitutional body which could not be disbanded. However, he agreed that political appointments should stop. “Such appointments bring a bad name to the CII.”

He said that a list of names pending before the prime minister should be reviewed and appointment should be made on merit. “Many controversies were generated since the (incumbent) chairman took charge of the body. It is important to fill the post on merit,” said Haq, who is close to the affairs of the body.

JUI-F dominates CII rulings

He also maintained that the previous prime minister had assigned him to appoint nine members when posts were vacant and he had appointed members purely on merit and no one had questioned those appointments.

Recommended names on the list sent to the prime minister include: Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi, the director of Jamia Naeemia, Lahore, Senator Hafiz Hamdullah of JUI-F, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, the Secretary-General of Ittehad-i-Tanzeemat-i-Madaris-i-Deenia, Habibur Rehman Sheikh, the additional secretary of the ministry of law and justice and Maulana Abdul Wasay, a JUI-F leader, Dr Farhat Hashmi, the head of Al-Huda International Institute and Mufti Saeed Jan, who performed the Nikah of PTI chief Imran Khan.

Interestingly, the JUI-F has been dominating the CII affairs. Currently, three of its members belong to JUI-F.

Ten members who retired this year are: Mufti Ghulam Mustafa Rizvi, Syed Saeed Ahmed Shah, Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, Allama Ibrahim Qadri, Pir Abdul Baqi and Dr Farida Siddiqui, Allama Amin Shaheedi, Maulana Fazal Ali and Dr Idrees Soomro.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2016.