Compounding disparities: Eight-year-old petition on moon-sighting restored

Petitioner argues that committees have created more differences.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Thursday restored an eight-year-old petition to resolve the controversy of moon sighting in the country.

The petition, filed under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution by Advocate Aslam Khaki, requested to taking into account differences in the observance of the moon by the sighting committees.

The applicant maintained that to promote unity, the government has constituted a Ruet-e-Hilal committee to sight the moon for Eid. The petitioner, however, further states that these committees have failed to resolve the disparity in the moon-sighting but has rather worsened it. It added that before the constitution of the committees there were lesser incidents of disparity.

The federal government through the ministry of religious affairs secretary, Ruet-e- Hilal Committee, government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, provincial Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the Meteorology Department Islamabad are respondents in the petition.

Raising several other questions, Khaki stated that the respondents have failed to achieve their goal in uniting the Muslim community.

The petition also suggested that it would be in the country’s interest to dissolve all such committees and leave the people to be led by their own religious scholars keeping in view their geographical locations.

The apex court on November 6, 2006, dismissed that petition on non-prosecution basis. After two days, Aslam Khakhi moved an application regarding the restoration of its petition, saying that the matter involved in the case is very important and the Supreme Court was the only forum, which can resolve the matter.

The three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, on Thursday restored the petition after hearing the arguments of the applicant.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2014.