Chairman Ruet-i-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman on Tuesday addressed the controversy generated in recent days regarding moon-sighting in the country, saying "all acclaimed scholars have full confidence in the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee." He noted that parts of KP will also celebrate Eid today (Wednesday).
"I want to say whether it's the 18th Amendment or the 28th Amendment, these are all subservient to religion, religion will never be subservient to these," the scholar asserted. He expressed displeasure at the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for allowing Eid to be celebrated in KP on a different day than the rest of the country. "I was astonished that the party (PTI) which has a government at the centre is deviating [from the norm] at the provincial government level. This is a most unusual event in Pakistan's history," he said.
Mufti Muneeb appealed to electronic media to not consider Peshawar's Masjid Qasim Ali Khan, where "controversial" cleric Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai independently announces dates of religious festivals, as "the entire province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa".
"Will you remove the other areas from the province? That's why those who are appointed to government positions should fully favour the sensitivities of their roles," he said. "[KP Chief Minister] Mahmood Khan sahib is not the first chief minister. Many others have come before him. All in all, whatever they did on the local level, they never let their decisions be the source of controversy for the whole country."
"This is not a matter belonging to the present time. This has continued since the creation of Pakistan," he said, referring to the disagreements that led to religious festivals being celebrated on different dates in different parts of the country. Mufti Muneeb then proceeded to name all those who preceded him in the chairperson's position, saying that this "tradition of deviation" had persisted in all their tenures.
"In a country which got independence in the name of religion, those who are in power will benefit from siding with religion in matters which are purely religious in nature. If they do not have the courage to do so, then at the very least do not make things controversial."