Ruete Hilal Committee to be restructured, Mufti Muneeb likely to be replaced

The federal government has reportedly decided to restructure and empower the country’s premium moon-sighting body, the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee (RHC), by replacing its Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman and most of his peers.

The RHC was established in 1974 under a resolution passed by the National Assembly (NA) but no rules and regulations for the functioning of the committee have been drafted to date.

Reports by multiple media outlets quoted sources in the Ministry of Religious Affairs as saying that a summary has been prepared along with a new bill seeking to reconstitute the moon sighting body and its Terms of Reference (ToRs).

The summary, along with the draft bill, has been sent to the Ministry of Law and Justice for further deliberations and legal opinions. Imprisonment of five years besides a fine of Rs50,000 to Rs200,000 has also been proposed in case of a parallel announcement in contradiction with the government committee.

The draft mentioned that the incumbent chairman and members of the RHC would be replaced, while some existing and new religious scholars would be inducted in the committee.

It may be noted that reshuffling in the committee is said to be occurring due to the differences in dates of moon-sighting following Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry’s criticism over old-fashioned and outdated moon-sighting techniques rather than relying upon the scientific technology.