Pakistan: Moon sighting controversy far from over

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday demanded that the country’s moon sighting body ‘Ruet-e-Hilal Committee’ tender an apology for giving wrong information about the commencement of the Islamic month of Safar.

The Ruet-e-Hilal Committee had declared that the moon for the new Islamic month (Safar) was not sighted on September 29 (Sunday) so Monday would be 30th Moharram and Safar would commence from Tuesday (October 1). On the other hand, according to pakmoonsighting.pk there was ample evidence of moon-sighting on Sunday and Monday happened to be the first day of the new Islamic month.

The minister said pictures of the moon were also released on the internet, which contradict the announcement made by the religious body.

Chaudhry asked the committee members to apologise for making a wrong assessment. He said in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) people did not accept the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee’s announcement upon which they had to back out.

Chaudhry has been critical of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee since he took on the portfolio of the Science and Technology Ministry in April this year.

He considers the committee a burden on the national exchequer and a liability. He proposed a 10-year lunar calendar so that there should be no need of this official committee that is charging “Rs4 million [Dh93,230] to sight Ramadan and Eid moon.”

The minister maintained that religious scholars are respectable but they should not charge money to sight the moon as this work is done voluntarily around the world.

Meanwhile, in a press event on Sunday, Chaudhry said the leader of the right wing party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rahman was in fact pursuing a personal agenda by launching Azadi (Freedom) March on Islamabad.

He said the government was clear in its stand that Rahman would not be allowed to exploit innocent students of the Madrassah (religious seminaries) into participating in his plan of political agitation.

Chaudhry said the exploitation of Madrassah students had a long and dark history. Regarding lack of facilities for Nawaz Sharif and other PML-N leaders, Chaudhry said the government had no objection to release of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and others. “Pay back the looted money and your father is free to walk,” he said, taking a jibe at the opposition.

About the mass mobilisation campaign in Pakistan-administered Kashmir for crossing the Line of Control, he said the people who try to cross should wait for the call of Prime Minister Imran Khan otherwise it will have negative repercussions on the Kashmiris’ struggle.