Kite flyers vow to defy ban

Tell Pindi administration they will celebrate Basant, come what may

RAWALPINDI:

The Kite Association has announced to celebrate Basant in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi next month under all circumstances.

There is a ban on manufacture, sale and flying kites across Punjab, due to numerous fatalities caused by metallic and chemical-laced kite strings getting entangled in people’s necks.

However, the enthusiasts challenge the ban every year to hold the annual kite flying festival of Basant, common among the people of Punjab, be it the Sikhs, Hindus or Muslims.

The Kite Association said that in the first phase, Basant would be celebrated in cantonment areas of the garrison city while it would be observed in city areas in the second phase. The kite flying festival will be marked in Islamabad in the third phase, Kite Association officials including Muhammad Iqbal, Naveed Khan, and Basharat Qayyum said.

The night-long Basant nights will be organised before the event day, office bearers of the association said without disclosing the exact dates.

With schools and colleges shut, the Pindi boys, famous for their naught, are following the maxim, “go fly a kite.” The sky in Rawalpindi gets filled with colourful kites in the afternoon while the administration seems helpless to control the kite flyers despite the ban. Only yesterday almost 8,000 kites were seized from 16 suspects in Rawalpindi.

The preparations to celebrate Basant are at their peak across the city. Millions of kites and spindles, twine, and spools have been supplied from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) to Rawalpindi while special arrangements are being made on roofs of houses.

There is no ban on making kites or selling kites in K-P, taking advantage of the ‘prohibition’ in Punjab, the makers in neighbouring province have created a supply chain of kite runners.

To avert arrest, the kite enthusiasts have ciphered messages to connect with the kite vendors and place orders. Huge orders for kites and strings have already been placed, Kite Association officials said.

They said that Basant was a beautiful cultural festival. Instead of banning the activity, the government should strictly ban chemical strings and allow kite flying with normal strings and arrest all such vendors who sell the lethal twine responsible for slitting the throats of dozens of bikers and pedestrians.

The officials said that the government should allow kite-flying in the open grounds after declaring them Basant areas.

The association members said that Basant would be celebrated under all circumstances and expressed that the cultural festival was a source of employment to thousands of people in January and February.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi administration has tightened noose against kite-dealers, and orders have been issued of a crackdown on the vendors. The Rawalpindi police have jacked-up checking on the roads that connect Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anwarul Haq said that Basant was officially banned and the law would come into action against anyone violating it.

He added that the government would take action against the father of an underage child caught flying kite.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2021.