ISLAMABAD: The government is engaging with top religious leaders and scholars to reach a consensus for all Pakistanis to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr on the same day, as the date remains subject to the appearance of a new crescent moon.
“We are in negotiations with different top religious clerics to make a unanimous decision for the Eid day,” Imran Siddiqui, a spokesman for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News on Wednesday.
He said the holiday is a religious festival that should help society move beyond differences “instead of creating further rifts” with regard to the date of its observance.
Pakistan’s Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, the body which announces the sighting of the new moon, is set to meet on May 23 (Saturday) to decide whether Eid will be celebrated on Sunday or Monday.
Eid Al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting when Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours for 29 to 30 days. 
Every year, disputes emerge over the beginning and end of the holy month, with Pakistan’s northwestern areas starting with Saudi Arabia, earlier than the rest of the country.
As the Islamic world follows a lunar calendar, traditional moon-sighting methods can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day apart.
The first moon-sighting disagreement in Pakistan dates back to 1958, when northwestern regions celebrated Eid Al-Fitr a day before others. Different governments have since tried to put an end to the practice, but to no avail.
According to officials, there is little likelihood that the new moon would be seen on Saturday, but in some regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan it could be spotted with a telescope, Dr. Khalid Mahmood, director of forecasting at Pakistan Meteorological Department, told Arab News.
“The new crescent becomes visible to the naked eye after 20 hours of its birth,” he said, “And based on this fact, we forecast that its chances are fifty-fifty.”
Every year, Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee members meet to observe the moon and collect evidence from across the country to announce the beginning and end of Ramadan.
Many argue that scientific methods could help put an end to the controversy of two Eids, for nobody could deny their objectivity.
“The crescent will be at a seven-degree altitude of the horizon on Saturday, which means it won’t be visible to the naked eye,” Dr. Javed Iqbal, director of the Institute of Space Science and Technology at Karachi University, told Arab News.
A crescent should be at nine to 10 degrees from the horizon to be visible without optical instruments, he said, “We have the biggest 16-inch telescope in Pakistan to see the moon, but we can’t announce any decision.”
Only the official moon sighting committee can announce whether the new crescent has been spotted, Iqbal said, therefore “people living in different areas, especially Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa don’t agree with its decision.”
Religious leaders argue the government should enforce its writ across the country by making people follow the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee.
“It is a failure of the government to allow people to celebrate two Eids,” said Tabsheer-ul-Haq Thanvi, a religious cleric whose father helped establish the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee in the 1970s.
The moon-sighting committee can rely on science, Thanvi said, “But it is not bound to follow it, as only the traditional method of sighting the moon is authentic as per Islamic teachings.”
Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee chairman Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, refused to address the issue.
“I don’t want to comment on this controversy,” he told Arab News.