Vacant CII seats to have more experts than scholars

Spots expected to be filled before caretaker govt sets in

ISLAMABAD: The nine posts lying vacant at the Council of Islamic Ideology are likely to be filled by more intellectuals from various fields than the traditional ulema (scholars).  Moreover, it is expected that these spots will be filled before the caretaker government takes charge.

Talking to The Express Tribune a government official said that currently nine membership posts are lying vacant since March 5 2017. Even though the Ministry of Law and Justice had earlier sent a summary of proposed names to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, it has been decided to include more names in the proposed list.

“It has been decided to include names of experts in various fields like Islamic economics, Islamic education, and administration among others in order to bring diversity in the council,” he said. In this regard currently the Ministry of Law and Justice is looking for experts in the fields concerned, said the official.



“This will help the CII in reviewing issues related to different fields more professionally and in depth,” said the official.

Earlier majority of the members of CII were traditional scholars who though had knowledge on various issues but lacked extensive insights, said the official.

“Hopefully within a week the law ministry would finalise the proposed names to be sent to the PM,” said the official.

Meanwhile, when The Express Tribune approached the Chairman CII Dr Qibla Ayaz regarding this development, he said that the Council is waiting to have its vacant seats to be filled in a balanced way.

“Due to this delay, the CII is unable to act on various important issues referred to it by different committees including issues regarding early child marriage bill, penalty for giving three talaq in one go among others,” he said.