Police arrest 69 suspects, seize hundreds of kites

Electric poles being cleared of strings with cooperation from different civic agencies

THEKRI WALA:

On the third day of the crackdown on the flyers of kites in Thikriwala, police arrested 69 suspects and allegedly seized a huge quantity of raw material, chemical strings and hundreds of kites from four units.

On the other hand, the police conducted an operation in collaboration with two departments to remove kites and strings stuck at the electric poles.

According to police sources, during the operations carried out by the district police against flyers of kites in different areas on the instructions of city police officer Ghulam Mubashir Mekan, Lyallpur Town Division arrested 13 people, Madina Town Division 26 and Iqbal Town Division 30 people allegedly for flying kites and selling them despite the ban on them. Cases had been registered against the suspects.

Ghulam Muhammadabad and Mananwala police raided four large units during the crackdown and seized millions of rupees worth of raw material.

Meanwhile, on the instructions of the CPO, the police, along with the staff of Rescue 1122, WAPDA and the metropolitan corporation, conducted an operation in the city to remove the kites and strings stuck at the power lines and poles.

The move by the police was widely appreciated by the people.

Read: Kite flyers adamant on celebrating Basant

Police have hung banners in different parts of the city to curb flying of kites, and announcements have also been made through mosques urging people to avoid flying kites.

Meanwhile, according to a report, flying of kites, once a festivity for Lahorites but a deadly sport now, had claimed five lives and left 15 people injured last year in the provincial capital.

The deceased included a three-year-old child travelling with his father and a lecturer who had recently returned with a PhD degree from the United States.

Aftab Ahmad, a lecturer of chemistry at the Government Dayal Singh College, left for the college on the morning of March 5 on his motorbike last year.

When he reached the Kalma Chowk, a kite string slid along his neck. He died on the spot after losing control of his motorcycle which hit the road divider.

Kite string slit the jugular vein of three-year-old Khizar in Masti Gate area when he was travelling with his father, Owais, and siblings on a motorbike.

The throat of Asad Nisar was slit when he was about to reach home in the Shalimar area on his motorcycle late at night from his duty at a cinema on November 28.

A retired employee, Manzoor Hussain, and a youth, Arshad, lost their lives in similar incidents.

At least 15 people were severely injured in other incidents. The five deaths recorded by the authorities were of the victims who lost their lives on the spot.

Hide-and-seek between the police and the violators of the ban on flying of kites continued throughout the year 2021.

While kite stings were risking the lives of motorcyclists, police were claiming to be on alert against the menace and finding innovative ways to enforce the ban, including manning rooftops in densely-populated areas.

Police spokespersons kept releasing weekly data of arrests, raids and seizure of kites and string.

After the death of the lecturer, police had started using drones to hunt flyers of kites.

Police also made announcements against flying of kites through public address systems.

Some cops made announcements from vehicles in streets, urging people not to allow their children to fly kites or let anyone use their roofs for the activity.

With time, police officers had started seeking harsher punishments to curb the menace of flying kites.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2022.