Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said that Ramzan moon would be sighted country-wide on April 24.
“Ramzan moon will be sighted on April 24, with the Ramzan to start from April 25,” Chaudhry said in a post on Twitter on Thursday.
The federal minister further said a briefing would be given to the parliamentary committee on religious affairs on March 5 on the matter. “Eid and other religious festivals should be a reason for joy and happiness, not divisions,” he added.
Last year in May, Chaudhry announced Pakistan’s first-ever moon-sighting website. This was followed by the launch of the country’s first-ever moon-sighting app to share real-time information about the moon.
Named the “The Ruet”, the app combines Islamic Hijri calendar with modern technology to learn about the beginning of new Islamic month with a single tap. The app also displays various moon phases, the current age of the moon and other time information according to the Islamic calendar.
“The Ruet is a utility and information application related to moon and sighting of the moon in Pakistan by the Ministry of Science and Technology” according to the app’s description.
The science minister has multiple time objected to Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee's decisions regarding moon sightings and questioned it's capabilities to make the decisions correctly.