PESHAWAR: Northwestern areas of Pakistan will start observing Ramadan along with Saudi Arabia, despite the Pakistani government’s decision to commence fasting on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court announced on Thursday that Ramadan this year will start on Friday.

“After evaluating moon-sighting witnesses, the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has announced first Ramadan will be observed tomorrow (Friday). God willing, tomorrow will be the first Ramadan. I congratulate you all on this sacred month,” Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai of Masjid Qasim Ali Khan’s moon-sighting committee in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, announced on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, the body which announces the sighting of the new moon, decided that Ramadan in the country would begin on Saturday. After the committee’s meeting on Thursday, the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued a circular enforcing the decision.

It is a long-held tradition in Pakistan’s northwestern areas to follow Saudi Arabia with regard to the timing of fasting and Eid celebrations.

“People mostly follow Saudi Arabia to start Ramadan or observe Eid because the kingdom is known as the citadel of Islam,” Atif Wazir, a university student from North Waziristan, told Arab News.

He said people have already bought and prepared foods for suhoor, the predawn meal, and iftar, or fast-breaking meal, that is eaten every night after sunset.

Muhammad Hassan, a tribal elder from South Waziristan, said that villagers in the district were preparing to offer Tarawih prayers on Thursday.

Khan Muhammad, an Afghan refugee in Kohat district, told Arab News that other refugee families living on the outskirts of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were also starting to observe their fast tomorrow.

“Our people will fast from Friday. We normally follow the Kingdom to start fasting because we have always had controversies over moon-sighting in Pakistan,” he said.

Muslims around the world use a lunar calendar to determine the dates of religious events and observances. As a result, Ramadan dates vary in different countries, usually by a day or two.