Mufti Muneebur Rehman and Maulana Popalzai skipped the joint meeting of the Senate and National Assembly's standing committees on religious affairs, which was called in order to come to an agreement on lunar calendar.

A briefing on the scientific version of the calendar was provided by the Science and Technology Ministry during the meeting, held on Thursday.

Following the meeting, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry held a press conference in which he reiterated his ministry's aim of uniting the nation for Eid celebrations.

"Our religious festivals are becoming the cause for our differences. As per promises made by the PTI, we have worked for Eid to be celebrated in unison throughout the country."

"We made a website and an app on scientific parameters," the minister said, adding that the website continues to receive a lot of visitors.

Chaudhry said that the website provided all necessary information pertaining to the moon, rooted in science.

He said that according to the ministry's calendar, the moon would be sighted on April 24 and the month of Ramazan would begin on April 25.

Chaudhry said that a powerful telescope would soon be installed.

"The Ulema insist that the sighting of the moon is necessary," he said, before adding: "Our app can [also] show moon's visibility."

The minister said that nine Islamic countries were making use of science for this tradition.

"This is not a matter of my person but that of the state," he said, to dispel the notion that egotistical considerations might be at play.

Chaudhry said that the lunar calendar of up to 2024 had already been prepared.

He said that differences with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and various ulema "will be resolved".

The minister assured the nation that the ministry did not want to insert itself into a needless debate and wished to be a facilitator. He said that another meeting would be held on April 2.