KARACHI, Aug 30: Shawwal moon was sighted on Tuesday and Eidul Fitr will be celebrated in the country on Wednesday.

“The moon has been sighted at various places in Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite an overcast sky in most parts of Pakistan,” Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman announced.

The committee held its meeting at the Meteorological Department Complex to collect evidence of moon sighting from its zonal committees. Mufti Muneeb said that the committee had received evidence of moon sighting by witnesses from parts of Karachi, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Mansehra, Vehari, Rawalpindi and Sialkot.

Experts from the Met Office, Suparco and navy assisted the committee.

However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti and members of his cabinet celebrated Eid on Tuesday in accordance with an announcement by the local unofficial moon sighting committee of Masjid Qasim Ali Khan.

Eid was celebrated in different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and all tribal agencies as well as    Frontier Regions.

Eid congregations were held at various places in Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Peshawar, Bannu, Kohat, Dargai, Karak, Laki Marwat, parts of Hangu, Khyber, Bajaur, Mohmand, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Kurram and Orakzai Agencies.

Chief Minister Hoti, federal Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, provincial Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain,    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Kiramatullah Chigharmati and other members of the provincial assembly offered Eid prayers at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

Eidul Fitr was also celebrated on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar and many other countries in the Middle East.--APP/PPI