Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is celebrating Eidul Fitr today, a day before the festival formally kicks off in other areas of Pakistan.

On Sunday, Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee chairman Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad declared that the festival would be celebrated on Tuesday (tomorrow) as the Shawwal moon was not sighted anywhere in the country. However, an unofficial moon-sighting committee headed by Peshawar’s Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai announced that Eidul Fitr would be celebrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday (today).

It said that there were 16 instances of the Shawwal moon sightings from local committees in other districts, including Bajaur, Mohmand, Dir, South and North Waziristan and other areas.

Later, KP government spokesman Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif announced that 130 sightings of the moon were reported from the province and thus the provincial government had decided to officially celebrate the festival on Monday.

Subsequently, early morning today, Eid congregations were held in Charsadda, Takhtbhai, Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi, Karak and other areas of provincial metropolis. The main gathering was held at Eidgah mosque alongside Charsadda Road.

Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan offered the prayers at Governor House along with other provincial cabinet members such as Chief Secretary Shehzad Bangash, Peshawar Commissioner Riaz Mehsud, and others.

On the occasion, the leaders prayed for the security and well-being of the country and unity of the nation and Muslims across the world.

Eidul Fitr is also being celebrated in several countries of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Oman, today. However, the Markazi Chand Committee of India announced that Eid would be celebrated on Tuesday as the Shawwal moon was not sighted in the country.

Eid was celebrated in Afghanistan on Sunday.

Eid in Hazara Division

Meanwhile, KP Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, in a video message earlier today, said that Eidul Fitr in the Hazara Division will be celebrated on May 3 with the rest of the country.

"Hazara has from the beginning had the tradition of fasting and celebrating Eid adhering to the announcement of the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee," he said. "The decision was taken after consultation with religious scholars."

Ghani said that matter should not be turned "controversial". "In the past too, there were times when Eid was celebrated on different dates in different cities," he recalled, adding that he respected decision of scholars in Peshawar equally.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Imran Khan-led PTI government at the centre had in an attempt to address divisiveness caused in society by differing announcement of moon sighting had stressed the need for using technology to settle the issue with the goal to celebrate Eid the same day all across the country.

Media reports had in May 2020 quoted then science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry as saying that Islam encouraged its followers to acquire knowledge, adopt technology and apply logic. He said it was the government’s intention to settle the controversy surrounding moon sighting for Eidul Fitr and for this purpose a committee of experts such as space scientists and mathematicians, officials of the Meteorology Department and ulema had been formed.