A newly formed Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will meet today to sight the moon for Ramadan 2020.
The meeting of the committee will be held at the Met Office in Karachi with Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman in the chair. A spokesperson had earlier said the meetings of the zonal committees will take place at the provincial headquarters.
According to the spokesperson, Islamabad’s zonal committee will hold a meeting at the Kohsar complex.
The moon sighting bodies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE will also meet today to decide the first day of holy month.
Meanwhile, Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai of Peshawar's Qasim Ali Khan mosque has also announced that their local committee would meet today for moon sighting.
Every year, Mufti Shahabuddin holds separate meetings for Ramadan and Shawwal moons and make independent decisions, which are most of the times contradictory to official announcements.
Moreover, for the first time in history, a member of the Ministry of Science and Technology has been included in the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee.
Dr Tariq Masood, the joint secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology, has been appointed to the committee as a technical expert, according to a notification.
"Dr Tariq Masood, Joint Secretary M/O Science & Technology is appointed as member (technical expert) in the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee with Immediate effect until further orders," read the notification.
Earlier this month, Chaudhry had said that the moon will be sighted on April 24 as per the lunar calendar, marking the first fast of the holy month of Ramazan on April 25.
