Eight new members appointed to CII

The federal government on Tuesday appointed eight more members in the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), completing the 20-member strength of the constitutional body as per rules.

According to a notification issued by the federal law ministry, the new members are Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi, head of the Jamia Naeemia; Malik Allah Bakhsh Kaliar; Sahibzada Pir Khalid Sultanul Qadri; Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry; Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi; Dr Abdul Ghafoor Rashid; Muhammad Jalaluddin and Farida Rahim.

Dr Raghib Naimi had also served as a member of the CII in the past. Former Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz had made him the chairman of the Punjab Quran Board. He was removed when the incumbent Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi took over.

Dr Abdul Ghafoor Rashid belongs to the Jamiat Ahle Hadith, which is an ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).