ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: Shawwal moon has not been sighted anywhere in the country. Therefore, the first of Shawwal, 1427 Hijri will fall on Oct 24 and Eidul Fitr will be celebrated on Wednesday.

Chairman of the central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee, Mufti Munibur Rehman made the announcement here on Monday.

He said there were no reports of the sighting of Shawwal moon from any part of the country.

Meteorological Department’s observatories in Karachi, Gilgit Gwadar, Sialkot, Panjgur, Muzaffarabad and other parts of the country did not confirm sighting of the moon, he said.

The chairman also appealed to President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to extend Eid holidays by one day to facilitate the government employees who had gone to their native towns to celebrate Eid.

Other members of the central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee, who attended the meeting are: Mufti Muhammad Rafique Hassani, Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Azhari, Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Kakakheil, Mian Naeemur Rehman, Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad, Allama Mulazim Hussain, M.M. Qureshi.

Members of the Islamabad zonal Ruet-i-Hilal Committee were also represented.

Chief Meteorologist of the Meteorological Department Arif Mehmood and Director-General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Dr Habibur Rehman also attended the meeting.—APP