The Ruet-i-Hilal Committee on Thursday announced that the Ramazan moon had not been sighted, hence the holy month will begin on Saturday.
The committee held its meeting under the chairmanship of Mufti Muneebur Rehman while meetings of other zonal and district committees were also arranged simultaneously.
A day earlier, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had ruled out the possibility of moon sighting, saying it will not be possible to spot the moon during sunset with telescopes. He had confirmed this on the basis of a computer-generated image showing the exact position of the moon. The image was generated by the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco). “On April 23, the moon will only be 2 degrees above the horizon at sunset; it is impossible to spot the moon during sunset with telescopes. Therefore, if anyone living in Pakistan wants to fast with the people in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia it is up to them,” he had said, also announcing that for the first time in the history of the country, his ministry had been given representation in the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee.
