It is not unique to South Asia:
Indonesian muslims observe the new moon that will mark the end of Ramadan
www.cbsnews.com
Moonsighting isn't the issue. The problem is that in Indo-Pak, they literally did it after the month preceding Ramadan (Sha'ban) ended.
Rasul'Allah (SAW) said that if you can't see the moon at the end of the month of Sha'ban, then you let Sha'ban run to 30 days.
That's why most other regions started Ramadan from Wednesday night/Thursday morning, i.e.,
after Sha'ban ended. If they had seen the moon, then Ramadan would've started Tuesday night/Wednesday morning (i.e., cutting Sha'ban to 29 days).
However, the Indo-Pak maulvis decided for some inexplicable reason to insist on moonsighting
after Sha'ban ended. So, they literally decided to look for the moon on the first actual day of Ramadan and, as a result, started the fast on the second day of the month. The maulvis botched the start of Ramadan.
Like, lol, how do you start a day after the Middle East, Europe, and North America when your day starts and ends before them? Sha'ban ended for South Asia before it did for the Middle East and the West. So, it's rationally impossible for South Asia to start Ramadan after the westward regions when the day literally starts in South Asia before those regions. Either this is sheer stupidity or a clever tactic to reduce their fasts to 29 days
@SQ8