PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday officially declared Tuesday as the first day of Eidul Fitr across the province.

Information Minister Shaukat Yousufzai said that KP Governor Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan will offer Eid prayers in Peshawar on Tuesday.

He said the decision was taken by the chief minister after an unofficial Ruet committee based at Peshawar’s Qasim Khan mosque claimed that it had received over 100 calls from different districts about sighting of the Shawwal moon.

A senior government official told Dawn that the KP government declared Eid on Tuesday after getting approval from Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Earlier, the head of unofficial Ruet committee, Mufti Popalzai, said 48 witnesses had turned up in Bannu, seven at Mirali (North Waziristan), three at Mardan, two at Charsadda, 15 at Lakki Marwat, 18 at Karak and four at Hangu.

Among other members of the committee are Maulana Khairul Bashar, Qari Abdur Rauf, Maulana Jamal Mashwani and Abdul Jalil Jan.

As the sky in Peshawar and adjoining areas was cloudy on Monday, the body relied mostly on witnesses from other districts.

Another unofficial Ruet-i-Hilal committee, headed by Maulvi Abdur Razzaq Mujadeddi, said it had received 48 calls from a number of towns and villages in Bannu district about the sighting of the Shawwal moon.

Local committees in Nowshera, Charssada, Mardan, Swabi and some other areas also announced the sighting of the moon soon after the announcement from Qasim Ali Khan Mosque.

The moon-sighting announcement follows a proposal by a KP minister that Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman be removed as chairman of the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee.

Information Minister Shaukat Yousufzai proposed that Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai, the self-appointed chief of the moon-sighting committee based in Qasim Khan Mosque, head the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee so that the dispute over the Eid moon is resolved once and for all.

Mr Yousufzai was asked at a press conference on Monday whether people would celebrate Eid on two different days this year as well.

“I think the dispute can be resolved only if Mufti Popalzai is appointed head of the central moon-sighting committee,” the information minister quipped.

Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman has been heading the Central Ruet-i-Hilal committee for two decades.

He was recently challenged by Fawad Chaudhry, the federal Minister for Science and Technology, who claimed to have compiled a lunar calendar that can determine the dates for Islamic festivals with accuracy.

The minister infuriated religious circles with blunt remarks that were regarded as contemptuous by them. Fawad Chaudhry went so far as to suggest that there was no need for a moon-sighting body in this day and age.

Mufti Muneeb took exception to these comments, saying that the minister should refrain from belittling the Ruet committee and called upon the prime minister to tell Fawad Chaudhry not to “meddle in matters of the faith”.

Prime Minister Imran Khan put his foot down and gave his verdict in the Ruet committee’s favour at a cabinet meeting last week.

“Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman has been serving as chairman of the committee for a long time and we acknowledge his services. But if replacing him with Mufti Popalzai can resolve the dispute over Eid and Ramazan moon, then Mufti Popalzai should be made the head of the central committee,” Shaukat Yousufzai proposed at the press conference.

He parried a question whether the provincial government had decided to propose Mufti Popalzai’s name to the federal government. “It’s my personal opinion on the matter.”

The minister said he was frustrated to see that controversy over an important issue like Eid moon had become an annual feature and “I want to do my bit for uniting the nation on this matter”.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2019