Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai has suggested appointing Mufti Popalzai as chairman of the moon sighting committee, replacing Mufti Muneebur Rehman to end the controversial moon sighting issue.
The minister can be heard in a video saying: “Eid is celebrated on one day all over Pakistan except a distinct area of KP, we should stop this from happening.”
“Mufti Popalzai has claimed moon sighting and his claims have proven true a few times. In my understanding Mufti Muneebur Rehman should be rested for a while and Mufti Popalzai should be made the head of the moon sighting committee,” continued Yousafzai.
“I advise this so that Pakistan may have one Eid and begin and end religious occasions on an agreed day rather than having clashes and difference of opinion.”
Mufti Muneeb was taken on call for his opinion on the subject by a news channel where he said: “Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai can’t be enrolled in the government but what can be done is that the government can be given under his control so that everything that faces delay in the regime can be done beforehand, 24 hours before the deadlines.”
“The stain that plagues the government at the moment of mismanagement. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project undertaken by the KP government should be given under the supervision of Poplazai so that it may be met with timely success,” said Mufti Muneeb with implied sarcasm.
When asked if the conflict can be quashed and a possibility of Mufti Popalzai’s ascension to the moon sighting committee chairman was a possibility, Mufti Muneeb denied all such speculation and said that this is a matter for the state to decide.
Shaukat Yousafzai was also taken online for his take on the situation, to which the minister KP said: “It was said in a lighter mood and was not meant to be taken seriously after a reporter’s inquiry, I said what I did, jokingly.”
Elaborating on what he actually meant by his statement, Yousafzai claimed that both religious figures may end this supposed rivalry and conflict if they wanted to, and what he said may also be a workable solution if someone seriously considered it.
When asked about the Ruet App that the Ministry of Science and Technology has recently launched in an effort to curb the moon sighting controversy, Yousafzai jokingly added that he does not mind if “Mufti Fawad” is added to the mix of moon sighting candidates.
Yousafzai emphasised that the conflict has caused undue duress in the KP region, where an unneeded confusion takes over the place at times of religious occasions.
