Basant celebrated in Cantt despite ban

Police arrest 86 kite flyers, seize thousands of kites

RAWALPINDI:

Basant night was celebrated in different areas of the Rawalpindi Cantonment despite a ban.

On the other hand, police carried out a crackdown and arrested 86 kite flyers and sized a huge quantity of kites from them. Cases were also registered against the violators.

A police spokesman said that arrested persons included people from other cities who had come to Rawalpindi to fly kites. The police spokesman further said that Rawalpindi police have so far arrested 463 people during the crackdown and about 80,000 kites had been recovered.

Meanwhile, an emergency has been declared in all hospitals in Cantonment areas in the wake of Basant. Doctors and paramedics have been ordered to remain alert.

Read: Colourless skies as ban on Basant continues

The Rawalpindi Kite Flying Association has also announced a Basant Mela in the Rawalpindi city on February 18 after a successful celebration in Cantonment areas.

Top police officials have issued orders to Station House Officers and Dolphin Force to continue with the crackdown on kite flyers and sellers.

Police said that cases will be registered against owners of houses, shopping plazas or markets if they allow kite-flyers to do the sport.

Police announced from all major mosques in the Cantonment areas that there was a ban on kite flying, but the enthusiasts celebrated the Basant night on February 10 with great fanfare.

The sporadic scuffle also broke out between police personnel and the ban-defying youth till late night on Thursday.

Several policemen also allegedly took bribes from violators and released them.

Haji Iqbal, leader of the Rawalpindi Kite Flying Association, said: "We have banned the use of metal strings and aerial firing during Basant. There is no justification to ban Basant anymore.”

Kite sellers also sold kites in black and delivered kites to people in vehicles with tinted windows.

Ashraf Ali and Haji Shakoor alleged that police also arrested those children who did not fly kites and took them to the police stations. They claimed that police took a bribe of Rs10,000 to release the arrested children.

Basant festivity was seen in different areas including Tinch Bhatta, People's Colony, Dhok Syedan, Dhok Chirag Din, Dhok Chaudhary, Lal Kurti, Tariqabad, Rahimabad, Tahmaspabad, Gulistan Colony, Adara, Girja, Chauhar Harpal, Dhok Mastiq, Gawalmandi and Daryaabad on the Basant night.

In the narrow and dark streets of the old city areas, police faced great difficulty in arresting kite-flyers.