People disappointed as Eid-ul-Fitr celebrated in KP on different days

PESHAWAR: Like other parts of the country, Eidul Fitr was celebrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with religious zeal and fervour but on different days.

Partial Eid was celebrated on Monday and Tuesday. The festival was celebrated in Waziristan even on Sunday as was done in Afghanistan. After receiving testimonies by the private Ruet-e-Hilal (moonsighting) Committee, commonly known as the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan Committee headed by Mufti Shahabuddin Populzai, and the zonal Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Peshawar, the provincial government officially announced that Eid would be celebrated on Monday.

However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, who is also acting governor differed and celebrated Eid on Tuesday.

In a video message, he said as the Shawwal moon had not been sighted in any part of the Hazara division and traditionally people of Hazara celebrate Eid with the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, he would celebrate the festival on Tuesday and offer Eid prayers in Abbottabad.

Interestingly, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan celebrated Eid on Monday and offered Eid prayers at the Governor’s House in Peshawar. Both the acting governor and chief minister are from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

But in the Malakand division, including Swat, the home district of the chief minister, the majority of the people marked Eid on Tuesday. The festival was celebrated in most parts of Upper Chitral, Lower Chitral Lower Dir, Upper Dir Bajaur and Malakand district on Tuesday.

However, in the Peshawar valley -- Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, and Swabi – Eid was celebrated on Monday but those in the interior parts of Peshawar city and cantonment preferred to mark the occasion on Tuesday.

In other divisions of the province as well Eidul Fitr was celebrated on Monday except for some partial celebrations on Tuesday. Despite the KP government's earlier announcement, the religious festival could not be observed on the same day. This division disappointed most of the faithful who termed it a bad omen, saying if the Muslims fail to celebrate Eidul Fitr on a single day, how could they be united on other religious issues.

Almost all political parties leaders were critical of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee for ignoring the testimonies of crescent sightings received from different parts of KP. They believed that the committee should have given weightage to the testimonies from KP as not only the private Ruet-e-Hilal Committee but also the official zonal committee had received testimonies and accepted them after finding them credible.

However, the rain received in different parts of the province on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday provided relief to the people against hot and humid weather, enabling them to celebrate Eid in pleasant weather.

The rain brought the temperature down and broke the heatwave which had made life miserable for the dwellers. All parts of the province received rains for three days at intervals and people enjoyed the Eid festivities in pleasing weather.