Kite flyers challenging writ of law: CPO

Says 1,000 cops deployed with drones to monitor Basant revellers

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi police have tightened the noose against basant celebrators and formed special squads that will use drone cameras to detect kite-flyers, a spokesperson shared on Sunday.

The Kite Flying Association (KFA) had announced to celebrate basant on February 18 and 19 in cantonment areas and on February 25 and 26 in the other areas of the city. However, the police have also chalked out a plan to stop kite-flying on these days.

The City Police Officer (CPO) Ahsan Younas told The Express Tribune that there is a complete ban on kite-flying and the use of metal string, adding that KFA has challenged the writ of law by announcing to celebrate basant, twice.

The CPO stated that around 1,000 police personnel would be deployed on the rooftops of different buildings across the city equipped with drone cameras. They would remain in contact with the field officers, he added.

The drone operators would record videos of the kite-flyers and send them to field officers after which cases against law violators would be registered, the CPO warned.

Younas informed that KFA officials are under house arrest and undergoing investigation. He said that the announcers of basant celebrators will be met with strict action.

The CPO further urged parents, teachers, and members of the civil society to spread the message of not violating the law by flying kites or indulge in aerial firing. He mentioned that the police can take action against criminal elements but not the society as a whole. He emphasised that some 50 people were injured last year as recoiled bullets struck them and their necks were slit by kite strings, ruling out permission for any such activity that puts people’s lives in danger.

Younas said that kites and chemical strings were supplied from outside the city as there are no factories in Rawalpindi. He maintained that the police are rigorously conducting raids to dismantle the supply chain.

He said that around 80,000 kites have been confiscated so far during different raids.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2021.