PESHAWAR: Keeping in view growing differences over moon-sighting, especially on the eve of Ramazan and Eidul Fitr, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has offered to hold a joint meeting of stakeholders in Peshawar to pave the way for a national consensus and resolve the differences once for all.

Some of the opposition parties have welcomed the proposal.

Meanwhile, the tussle among leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf over the Islamic calendar intensified following the announcement of dates for Eidul Azha and Muharram by Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry.

On Thursday, Mr Chaudhry announced this year’s dates for Eidul Azha and the beginning of Muharram according to scientific evidence. In a tweet, the minister said that this year, Eidul Azha would fall on Aug 12 while Muharram — which marks the start of the Islamic year — would begin on Sept 1.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai — who had lashed out at Mr Chaudhry earlier this week defending the provincial government’s decision to celebrate Eid separately — expressed his disapproval of the announcement made by Mr Chaudhry.

KP minister objects to federal minister’s statement about Eidul Azha, Muharram

Mr Yousafzai said in an interview to a TV channel that Mr Chaudhry should not have announced the dates for Eidul Azha and Muharram as there had never been any disagreement on these dates.

Terming Mr Chaudhry’s tweet “inappropriate”, Mr Yousafzai said: “He should not have announced the dates for Eidul Azha and Muharram himself, but instead should have taken the Ruet-i-Hilal committee into confidence and sought its advice. The announcement would lead to further discord, the minister said.

“We have floated the idea to convene a meeting of all the stakeholders to find out a viable solution to the long-standing issue so that the nation may observe Ramazan and celebrate Eidul Fitr on same day across the country,” Mr Yousafzai told Dawn on Friday.

He said that only Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai had so far responded to the proposal and expressed the hope that other stakeholders, including the central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, science and technology ministry, Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and meteorological department, would also respond positively.

When contacted, Qaumi Watan Party leader Sikandar Hayat Sherpao said the issue needed to be resolved as early as possible. He said the witnesses of moon-sighting from KP should be given due importance.

However, Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan were responsible for celebration of Eid on different days in the country, saying that it was the PM who allowed the provincial government to celebrate Eid on June 4.

The JI leader said Fawad Chaudhry was exploiting the issue just for self- projection in media otherwise his ministry had nothing to do with moon-sighting, other than extending technical support to the relevant committee.

“As per Islam, the observance of Ramazan and celebration of Eids depend on sighting of the moon with the naked eye,” the lawmaker said.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N’s provincial information secretary Ikhtiar Wali Khan welcomed the idea to find a solution to the issue.

Efforts to seek opinion of the leaders of the Awami National Party and Pakistan Peoples Party did not meet with success.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2019