According to Secretary General Ruet-i-Hilal Research Council, Khalid Ejaz Mufti, , the new noon could not be sighted until and unless its age was minimum 20 hours at the time of sunset, at the place of observation, whereas the difference between sunset and moon set (Lag Time) is more than 40 minutes.
However, he said, if the age of the new moon was much higher than 20 hours, the moon would be visible at the Lag time of about 33 minutes.
He said that the new moon will be born on 29th Aug, at 08:04 Pakistan Standard Time. The age of the new moon at the time of sunset on the evening of Tuesday 30th Aug, 2011 will be more than 34 hours in all the areas of the country but on the other hand Lag Time (difference between sunset and moon set) will be 29 minutes at Peshawar and Rawalpindi/ Islamabad, 32 minutes at Lahore, 34 minutes at Quetta and 41 minutes at Gawadar, Jiwani and Karachi.
So new moon will easily be sighted in cities including Gwadar, Jiwani, Turbat and Ziarat of Baluchistan, Badin, Dadu, Hyderabad, Karachi and Thatta of Sindh.
The moon will also be visible in Bahawalnagar, Rahimyar khan, Multan, Muzaffargarh and D.G.Khan of Punjab but it will not be easily visible in the rest of the cities of Punjab and in all cities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Khalid Ejaz Mufti said some so-called Ulema of Peshawar could announce Eid-ul-Fitr on 30th Aug by accepting false crescent observations on the evening of 29th August, 2011 but it is pertinent to mention that the age of the moon will be less than 12 hours and moon will set before sunset in all parts of the country on the evening of 29th Aug.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011