NEW DELHI: Muslims in Pakistan and Sri Lanka are celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri today while those in Bangladesh and most parts of India will be celebrating the festival on Thursday.
The new moon of Syawal, the 10th month of the Islamic year, was spotted in Pakistan, the country's moon-sighting committee chairman Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad said in Islamabad on Tuesday evening.
A meeting of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee attended by officials from the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), and the Science and Technology Ministry received testimonies of moon sightings from different parts of the country.
Bangladesh's Islamic Foundation after a national moon-sighting committee meeting chaired by Religious Affairs Minister Faridul Haque Khan announced on Tuesday that the new moon was not sighted in the country and hence Eid Al Fitr will be on Thursday.
Similarly, Eid in most places in India will be on Thursday, but Muslims in the southern state of Kerala will celebrate it on Wednesday.
Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, the head of the moon-sighting committee in Lucknow city in northern India, said in a statement the crescent was not sighted on Tuesday.
Based on the moon sighting testimonies, religious figures in the Jammu and Kashmir region announced that Eid will be on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkiye, Afghanistan, the Maldives, and most other countries had announced earlier that Eid will be on Wednesday.
Muslims attend special congregatory prayers in the morning and then families and friends get together to share meals as part of the three-day Eid celebration.
Eid marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramadan and the start of Shawwal.
This year's festivities are tempered by the suffering of Palestinians due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment.
Many Muslim leaders in their Eid messages have called for an immediate end to Israeli attacks. -- BERNAMA