Split Basant policy sparks confusion

The Punjab government's decision to lift a strict 25-year ban and permit Basant celebrations in Lahore for three days — accompanied by promises of record-breaking business, revenue generation, and economic benefits — while simultaneously declaring Basant a "bloody activity" in other major cities such as Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Multan and further tightening restrictions there, has created confusion and inconsistency among the Punjab Information Department, police officials, and the district administration.

Under the stricter policy enforced outside Lahore, kite flying has been criminalised with penalties ranging from six months to one year in prison, and legislation has even been introduced allowing for the arrest of a child's father in place of the child. Raids and enforcement actions under this policy have left officials struggling to justify what many describe as a "half-and-half" or contradictory approach to Basant.

Senior officers of the Punjab Information Department are publicly hailing the three-day permission for Basant in Lahore as a historic and revolutionary decision, lavishly praising the Punjab government. They claim that Basant in Lahore alone will generate business worth Rs7 billion, create employment opportunities, and usher in record revenues, describing the Chief Minister's decision as the most historic in fifty years.

At the same time, these same officials are sending daily reports and articles terming the ban, arrests, and harsh punishments in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, and Faisalabad — including the arrest of fathers in place of their children and prison sentences of up to one year — as equally "historic" decisions by the Chief Minister.

On one hand, an officer describes Basant in Lahore as a landmark decision, while on another page, the same policy of raids, arrests, paramilitary force involvement, and the forced entry into homes to arrest kite-flying children and their fathers in Rawalpindi is portrayed as revolutionary.

Meanwhile, police, district administration officials, and the provincial parliamentary secretary in Rawalpindi have been holding awareness rallies against Basant, branding kite flying and kite selling as a curse, a serious crime, and a deadly activity. Ironically, the same provincial parliamentary secretary, upon travelling from Rawalpindi to Lahore, begins delivering speeches in favour of Basant and kite flying, extolling its virtues and describing it as a historic festival and a source of record business in Lahore.

This contradictory situation has persisted for the past week and is expected to continue until the Lahore Basant celebrations conclude. When contacted, one female and one male provincial parliamentary secretary from Rawalpindi stated that this was their compulsion, saying they could not issue statements contrary to party policy.