ISLAMABAD: Several members of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) will retire after completing their tenure by March this year.

According to official sources, the council consists of 20 members among whom seven are completing their tenure in January and three in March.

Each member is appointed for a period of three years with the approval of the prime minister.

Mufti Ghulam Mustafa Rizvi, Syed Saeed Ahmed Shah Gujrati, Hafiz Mahmood Tahir Ashrafi, Allama Muhammad Yousaf Awan, Mian Abdul Baki and Mufti Muhammad Ibrahim Qadri would be retiring on Jan 22 while Muhammad Mushtaq Kalota on Jan 27.

Allama Muhammad Amin Shahidi, Maulana Fazal Ali and Dr Mufti Muhammad Idrees Somroo would complete their tenure on March 3.

The sources said that a list of 30 nominations had been forwarded to the prime minister through Ministry of Law and Justice for finalising names of new members.

According to rules of the council, at least four meetings of the CII are mandatory during a year and a quorum of seven members is imperative to call a meeting.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2016