Fawad emerges as victor in moon-sighting 'battle'?

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday said Eidul Fitr would be celebrated in the country on Sunday (today), according to the calculations made by his ministry.
Speaking at a presser here, he said the Ministry for Science and Technology wanted to end the conflict over moon-sighting by relying on technology, adding he rejected notions that technology should not be involved in moon-sighting.
"Islam is a religion of knowledge and intellect. Whoever says technology should not be involved in moon-sighting, we reject their perspective. When you wear glasses, this is also technology. How can you say if I see with glasses, it is halal but if I see through [a] telescope, it is haram?" he questioned.
"The government is always trying to accommodate different religious groups, which resulted in empowering sectarian groups. We see that our state accommodates religious groups during the Eid conflict every year even though we should pay heed to the Constitution, law and human intelligence in some matters," Fawad said.
He said Mufti Popalzai, who heads Peshawar's Qasim Khan Mosque, makes a different announcement, the Ruet-e-Hilal committee makes another, so we decided this year, the Science and Technology Ministry would use technology to determine when Eid should be celebrated.
The minister said that the Ministry of Science and Technology had formed a committee comprising members from the Space Technology Department, mathematicians and officials from the Meteorological Department, which concluded that Eidul Fitr in Pakistan would be tomorrow (Sunday).
He added the committee also took opinions of Ulema into consideration.
Chaudhry said his ministry had identified eight areas across the country where the moon could be seen.
Explaining further, he said there was a certain waiting period after sunset for the moon to be seen.
"Saudi Arabia declares that the moon has been sighted only if they can view it a minute after the sun sets. After conferring with experts, the first principle we decided upon was that the ministry would wait for the moon to appear 38 minutes after sunset."
"The height of the moon should be 6.5 degrees and the minimum angle at which the moon can be seen should be nine degrees."