The Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will meet in Lahore, Punjab, on June 15 to sight the Muharram moon and determine the start of Muharram-ul-Haram 1448 AH.
Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad will chair the meeting at Iqbal Hall, Badshahi Mosque, according to an official announcement.
The committee will review moon-sighting testimonies from across Pakistan before making the official announcement on the new Islamic year.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department said there were no chances of sighting the moon on June 15. It said the interval between the moon’s birth and sunset would not be enough for crescent visibility.
Read: Muharram 1448 Pakistan Likely To Begin On June 17
In an advisory issued on June 11, the Met Office said the moon is likely to be born at 7:54 a.m. on June 15. It said the crescent would not be visible by sunset on Zil Hajj 29.
The PMD said the moon would set at 7:59 p.m. in Punjab, 8:55 p.m. in Sindh, 8:23 p.m. in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 8:34 p.m. in Balochistan.
It added that the moon would set at 8:00 p.m. in Gilgit-Baltistan and 8:07 p.m. in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Muharram is one of the four sacred Islamic months. Ashura falls on the 10th of Muharram, when Muslims remember the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions in Karbala.