A member of the Ruet-i-Hilal wondered about the reasons for not spotting the moon as several journalists covering his press conference in Karachi on Tuesday claimed that they had sighted the Shawwal moon—marking the end of Ramazan.
A final decision from the central committee would declare whether Pakistan celebrate Eid on Wednesday (tomorrow) or Thursday.
Members of the moon-sighting committee in Islamabad and the zonal committee met today to spot the moon.
“We are here at the roof of Ruet-e-Hilal to sight the moon. Zonal committee members are with us. We tried to see the Shawwal moon. No one has seen the moon in Karachi so far,” Maulana Mohammad Salfi, a committee member, said.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, he said that it was easy to spot the moon if its age was 23 to 24 hours, however, it was difficult to sight it when the age was 20 hours.
“This month moon’s age is 20. No reports have been received for moon sighting. No one has seen the moon in Karachi,” Salfi said.
When some of the journalists countered him with spotting the moon, he said: “On the sport if they are saying and if we are trying to see from that spot. Why we are not spotting it if they are sighting it.”
Salfi stated that the final decision lies with the Ruet-i-Hilal and its members. But journalists continued to counter him by saying that the moon was visible through the telescope.
He advised journalists to inform the committee if there were any testimonies, reiterating that the members had not spotted the moon.