Displaying the unity of purpose that has made this country what it is today, Pakistan will be celebrating Eid on two different days. In parts of the NWFP, the first day of  Eid is already winding down; the rest of the country will binge on rice-and-milk-based desserts tomorrow.

The idealists among you might want the entire country to observe Eid on the same day. But not if that means we go against Saudi Arabia, says Minister of Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour. Bilour is a member of the ANP and decided to burnish his party’s secular credentials by kowtowing to the Saudis. He had a further word of warning for those defying the Saudis:

He was of the view it was a grave sin to fast on Eid Day, adding those who observed fasting on Sunday they were on the side of Qadianiat.

While Bilour and the rest of the ANP was supportive of a Sunday Eid, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, the chairman of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, truly had the pulse of the NWFP. Here is what he had to say:

[H]e said he is receiving phones from the NWFP people who said weepingly that their ibadat has been ruined…

If you can get the image of weeping Pathan men out of your brain, keep in mind that, as we were reminded by Ghulam Ahmed Bilour’s brother Bashir, this is not a religious matter; it’s a provincial one:

Bashir urged Chairman Ruet Committee Muneeb to prove himself as the chairman of the entire country not just Punjab.

It might seem logical to rely on science, rather than mullahs and politicians, to spot the moon. Alternately, you could literally blind yourselves, which is what the PPP’s information secretary Fozia Wahab seems to besuggesting:

Fozia criticizes Peshawar moon sighting