Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will meet on Thursday PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: The Central Ruet-e-Hilal committee will meet on Thursday evening in Karachi for sighting the Shawwal moon.
According to Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony officials, Central Ruet-e-Hilal committee will meet under the chairmanship of Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman while the district committees will meet in their respective areas. The Ministry of Religious Affairs is likely to issue a notification of this meeting on Wednesday.
However, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) based on scientific calculations has already informed the Ministry of Religious Affairs that there are ‘slight’ chances of Shawwal moon sighting on June 14.
Eid likely to fall on June 16
According to Met Office, the new moon of Shawwal, 1439 AH will be born on crossing conjunction point at 00-45 PST on June 14. According to astronomical parameters, there is a ‘slight’ chance of sighting the new moon on Thursday.
The weather is expected fair/partly cloudy in most parts of the country based on climate record.
An expert privy to the matter told The Express Tribune that there are almost ‘no’ chances of Shawaal moon sighting on the eve of June 14.
“Though compared to Pakistan, chances are slightly higher that Shawwal crescent moon will be sighted on June 14 evening in other Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar because of their location,” he said, adding, “Now it depends on the federal government whether it announces Eid to be celebrated across Pakistan on June 16 (Saturday) on the basis of scientific calculations or on June 15 (Friday) on the basis of ‘evidence’.”
Eid on June 16, predicts Ruet-e-Hilal research chief
On the other hand, officials in the federal government are hoping that this year Eidul Fitr will be celebrated across Pakistan on same day just as Ramazan had started on the same date.
Earlier, the federal government made all-out efforts to celebrate Eid on the same day across the country through sending the controversial Khateeb Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai to Dubai just a few days before Eidul Fitr but unfortunately they failed in this regard.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ