Demand for ‘due place’: CII seeks incentives for chairman, members

Maulana Sheerani council’s status is the same as parliament.

ISLAMABAD: Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani said on Tuesday that the status and incentives of CII’s chairman and members should be at par with those of the custodians of the two houses of the parliament.

Speaking at a news conference after a meeting of the council, he said constitutionally, the CII has the same status as parliament hence it deserves the same importance as the National Assembly or the Senate. Similarly, the facilities and incentives extended to CII’s chairman and members should be the same as those enjoyed by the custodians of the two houses of the parliament and their elected members.

Maulana Sheerani further said that Tuesday’s meeting agreed that CII’s reports would be presented to the cabinet division, which would, in turn, put them on the agenda of the houses. “The National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman will allocate time for debate on these reports,” he added.



“In the first phase, CII’s reports of 2011 and 2012 will be tabled in the parliament,” he said and regretted that these reports have not been laid before the two houses despite the fact that these were compiled years back. “The reports of 2013 and 2014 are in the printing process, and these will also be forwarded to the parliament for debate.”

The CII chairman complained that practically the council was not being acknowledged as a constitutional body, which was a matter of great concern. According to the Constitution, it is mandatory that every parliamentarian consult the CII before presenting any fresh legislation in the house or proposing any amendment in the law to make sure that it is consonance with the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. But this mandatory part is being ignored, he said.

“We are working on it to make it mandatory upon lawmakers to consult the CII before tabling any bill in the parliament,” he added.

He said that after appointment of new members, the council is complete. Under the Constitution, the council should have at least eight members and at most 20. Representation of a female member and a judge is also mandatory.

To a question, the CII chairman said that as per the Islamic law, there is no need to have permission from the first wife for a second marriage.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2015.