SWABI, Oct 18: NWFP Minister for Religious Affairs Maulana Amanullah Haqqani has said that the Chairman of the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee adopts astronomical approach instead of following Islamic guidleines for the sighting of the Ramazan and Shawwal moons.

The minister said that the provincial committee would independently hold its routine meeting in Peshawar and decide about the sighting, or otherwise, of the Shawwal moon.

Talking to journalists here on Wednesday, he advised the chairman of the central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee to reject scientific calculations and said that he should strictly follow the Islamic principles to determine if the Shawwal moon had been sighted.

Clerics in the NWFP had decided to start fasting a day before the government announced the start of Ramazan and it is expected that might also announce the sighting of the Shawwal moon a day ahead, keeping the province’s tradition of celebrating Eid one day ahead of other places in the country.

Blaming the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee for the disparity in celebrating Eid, he said that it always happened because it did not accept the evidence (Shahadat) about the moon sighting from the NWFP. He said that whenever the committee received Shahadat from anywhere, it should confirm and then decide about the celebration of Eid.

“The NWFP (Ruet-i-Hilal) committee members will announce about the sighting, or otherwise, of the Shawwal moon on the basis of Shahadat received from anywhere in the province”, he said.

Expressing the desire to celebrate Eid on a single day, he vowed to uphold the Islamic principles under all circumstances and said that the entire province would celebrate Eid on one day. He said that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government would present the Hasba bill in the in the next assembly session after Eid.

He expected that lawmakers would pass the bill and the MMA government would be able to fulfill its pledge it had made regarding Islamisation.