Go fly a kite now!
Punjab has banned kite-flying after strings coated with glass powder killed 10 people, including two children, ahead of an annual festival, a government statement said. The ban was announced late Thursday by the Chief Minister, Chaudry Pervaiz Elahi, outlawing all kinds of kite flying and the sale and manufacture of kites and cords, the statement said. Many people use strings coated with a paste containing glass powder or with iron wool to sever the strings of rival kites. Kite-flying has resulted in the killing of 460 people and injuring many thousands since 1995 after Basant was declared as a seasonal festival in the province. Most are killed when the strings fall across roads at head height and slit the throats of people on motorcycles. Two people were burnt to death when a metal cord hit a live wire and sparked a fire in their Lahore home this week. “We cannot allow people to play with the lives of ordinary citizens in the name of sport,” a statement issued from the Punjab CM’s office said. It is still not certain whether this ban has been implemented due to concerns about the public’s safety or if the authorities have buckled under the pressure of the Mullahs who had threatened protests against the Basant festival, or both. Hardline Muslim groups oppose Basant on the grounds that it is a Hindu festival and kite-flying a wasteful sport, thus rendering it un-Islamic.
A ban on kite-flying was first imposed by the Supreme Court (SC), and the SC’s reservations about the ability of the authorities to stop this activity turned out to be well grounded. The ban had been lifted for 15 days at the request of the Punjab government so the festival could go ahead, on condition that dangerous string was outlawed. This flip-flop policy of first putting a ban on kite-flying, then lifting it for 15 days and now re-enforcing the ban betrays the confusion that has attended the handling of the issue. Regardless of this, it was not only the responsibility of the authorities but the general public’s too to enjoy the sport in a safe way. They too have failed. The Post had already predicted in one of their editorials (Mini-Basant goes wild, March 1, 2006) that “responsibility falls on the kite flyers themselves. If they want to save this sport from its imminent demise, they must become more disciplined.” But it seems as if the public did not pay any heed to this advice and now the festival has been banned.
Basant had become a highly competitive event in which people employ extraordinary skills to bring down — better still, capture — an opponent’s kite. Sometimes they use string coated in pulverized glass to cut an opponent’s kite; other times metal wire — which is often coated in corrosive chemicals. The authorities have banned the use of metal or chemical-coated strings to try to prevent accidents or electrocutions from kite-flying. But apparently this has not worked. Instead of using cotton thread for the manufacturing of kite-string, in an attempt to maximise their profits, all ethics and care for public safety were thrown to the winds and nylon and other material that is stronger was employed. This unscrupulous drive for quick bucks has resulted in the loss of several innocent lives. Officials say 1,000 people have been arrested for flying and selling kites and warned they could be tried on terrorism charges after deaths in kite-related accidents. But the city is in the grip of a kite-flying frenzy and bans do not seem to have much effect. It seems as if the public and all institutions have failed us and will probably fail us again come Sunday.
A ban on kite-flying was first imposed by the Supreme Court (SC), and the SC’s reservations about the ability of the authorities to stop this activity turned out to be well grounded. The ban had been lifted for 15 days at the request of the Punjab government so the festival could go ahead, on condition that dangerous string was outlawed. This flip-flop policy of first putting a ban on kite-flying, then lifting it for 15 days and now re-enforcing the ban betrays the confusion that has attended the handling of the issue. Regardless of this, it was not only the responsibility of the authorities but the general public’s too to enjoy the sport in a safe way. They too have failed. The Post had already predicted in one of their editorials (Mini-Basant goes wild, March 1, 2006) that “responsibility falls on the kite flyers themselves. If they want to save this sport from its imminent demise, they must become more disciplined.” But it seems as if the public did not pay any heed to this advice and now the festival has been banned.
Basant had become a highly competitive event in which people employ extraordinary skills to bring down — better still, capture — an opponent’s kite. Sometimes they use string coated in pulverized glass to cut an opponent’s kite; other times metal wire — which is often coated in corrosive chemicals. The authorities have banned the use of metal or chemical-coated strings to try to prevent accidents or electrocutions from kite-flying. But apparently this has not worked. Instead of using cotton thread for the manufacturing of kite-string, in an attempt to maximise their profits, all ethics and care for public safety were thrown to the winds and nylon and other material that is stronger was employed. This unscrupulous drive for quick bucks has resulted in the loss of several innocent lives. Officials say 1,000 people have been arrested for flying and selling kites and warned they could be tried on terrorism charges after deaths in kite-related accidents. But the city is in the grip of a kite-flying frenzy and bans do not seem to have much effect. It seems as if the public and all institutions have failed us and will probably fail us again come Sunday.
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