The federal government on Wednesday removed Muneebur Rehman as the chairman of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee.

As per the notification issued by the ministry of Religious Affairs, Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad has been named as his replacement.

Azad was until now the Khateeb of Lahore’s famous Badshahi Mosque.

The development comes as part of a major reshuffle in the 19-member committee.

Meanwhile, Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi, Allama Muhammad Hussain Akbar, Maulana Fazlur Rahim, Dr Yaseen Zafar, Mufti Muhammad Iqbal Chishti, Dr Mufti Ali Asghar, Mufti Faisal Ahmed, Syed Ali Qarar Naqvi, Mufti Yousaf Kashmiri have been appointed as the committee's members.

Hafiz Abdul Ghafoor, Mufti Fazal Jameel Rizvi, Qari Mirullah, Sahibzada Habibullah Chishti, Mufti Zamir Sajid have also been appointed as the committee's members.

Representatives of the Suparco, Science and Technology Ministry and the Met Office have been inducted in the committee too.