ISLAMABAD: Ministry of the Religious Affairs spokesperson has said that the central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will meet on Thursday evening to sight the Ramazan moon.
The spokesperson said that the meeting scheduled to be held at the Met Office in Karachi with Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman in the chair.
The spokesperson added that the meetings of the zonal committees will take place at the provincial headquarters on Thursday.
He said in Islamabad’s zonal committee will hold a meeting at the Kohsar complex.
Earlier, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had said that the Ramazan moon will be sighted on April 24 as per the lunar calendar, marking the first fast of the holy month of Ramazan on April 25.
He had mentioned that there had been a plan to gather people for the moon sighting. However, it has been called off owing to the coronavirus pandemic, which health experts say can be prevented by avoiding public congregations.
“Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rahman is our elder and I respect him but he cannot even see such a big moon, how can he see the tiny coronavirus,” he said on Twitter.
“We have brought to the attention of Ministry of Religious Affairs [and Inter-faith Harmony] that if the head of your ministerial committee pokes fun at the government’s orders, what can you expect from others?
“As for Ramazan, the moon will be sighted on April 24 and the first fast will be on April 25. We had earlier planned to gather to see the moon but the corona [virus] has cancelled all congregations.
“God willing, if we get a chance next year, we will schedule ‘chaand raat‘ festivities,” the minister added.
جہاں تک رمضان کا تعلق ہے 24 اپریل کو رمضان کا چاند نظر آجائیگا اور انشاآللہ 25 اپریل کو پہلا روزہ ہو گا۔ پہلے ارادہ تھا اس بار لوگوں کو اکٹھا کریں گے چاند دیکھنے کیلئے لیکن اب کرونا نے ہر اجتماع کینسل کرا دیا۔ انشاللہ اگلے سال موقع ملا تو چاند رات کی تقریبات کریں گے۔
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) April 15, 2020
