Islamabad: The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony has appointed Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad as new chairman of Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Pakistan by removing Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman.
The ministry has issued a notification about restructuring of the moon sighting committee of the country. The new committee consists of 20 members.
Azad is currently serving as Grand Imam of Lahore’s Mughal era Badshahi Mosque.
The outgoing Mufti Muneeb remained chairman of the committee for nearly 19 years.
The other members include Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi, Allama Muhammad Hussain Akbar, Maulana Fazlur Raheem, Dr Yasin Zafar, Mufti Muhammad Iqbal Chisti, Dr, Mufti Ali Asghar, Mufti Faisal Ahmad, Syed Ali Qarar Naqvi, Mufti Yousaf Kashmiri, Hafiz Abudl Ghafoor, Mufti Fazl Jameel Rizvi, Qari Mirullah, Sahibzada Habibullah Chisti and Mufti Zameer Sajid.
The committee will also include representatives from Suparco, met department, religious ministry and science and technology ministry.
Earlier this year, the federal government had decided about revamp the committee after a brawl ensued between it and the Ministry of Science of Technology over moon sighting issue.