KARACHI, July 9: The Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee announced on Tuesday that the Ramazan moon was not sighted anywhere in the country and, therefore, Thursday would be the first day of the fasting month.

It is significant that after years of controversy over moon sighting between the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee and Peshawar`s Qasim Khan mosque led by Mufti Popalzal that similar decisions have been taken by both. Ruet-iHilal Committee Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman said that members of the committee belonging to all schools of thought had not received any testimony to the sighting of the moon from any part of the country. Zonal committees in the four provinces also received no evidence or claim about the sighting.

`Therefore, it has been decided unanimously that the Ramazan moon was not sighted on Tuesday and, therefore, the first day of Ramazan-ulMubarak will be on July 11 (Thursday),` Mufti Muneeb announced at a press conference after the committee`s meting which was held at the Met Complex.

`We were in constant touch with the zonal committees and none of them received any evidence about moon sighting. We had the due technical support from the Met Office which has 48 centres across the country and Ramazan moon was not sighted anywhere,` he said.

Agencies add: Saudi Arabia, where Ramazan begins on Wednesday, has threatened to expel non-Muslim expatriates found eating, drinking or smoking in public during fasting hours.