FAISALABAD – An illegal network of kite-thread factories is working under cover in different parts of the city despite the government’s ban on the sale of kite flying material. Reportedly, these factories worked overtime during Basant festival this week to cater the needs of the kite flyers who took pleasure to violate the ban on the kite-flying, loud music and firing in the air.
However, it is reported that some of them have been arrested by police after a censure from the senior officials. A survey report forwarded to the Faisalabad police disclosed that 28 illegal factories were operating in Madan Pura alone while another 15 units were operating from the houses located in Sialawi Colony.
The police were reported to have closed down some of these factories but the owners were determined to restore their activity once the ongoing crack down was put on the back burner. The intelligence report had pointed out names of the people involved in this illegal trade.
These included Shahzad Ansari, Abdul Rasheed, Haji Sidique, Tahir Hussain, Bashir Ahmed, Abdul Ghaffar, Muhammad Shahid, Muhammad Younis, Ghulam Hussain, Haji Bilal, Ashraf, Bilal, Imran, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Nadeem, Abdul Sattar, Adnan, Maulavi Azir ur Rehman, Yaseen, Muzammal, Haji Yaseen, Muhammad Haneef, Ihsan, Saleem, Bilal Ansari, Bao Shahzad, Khalid and Muhammad Sabir who were all from Madan Pura.
In Sialavi Colony, those found running the business included Riaz alias Nama, Ilyas, Iqbal, Haji Javed, Zafar, Muhammad Naveed, Basheer, Khalil, Hafiz Ilyas, Usman, Ashraf, Rana Ashfaq, Abdullah, Adrees and Muhammad Ayyub. The survey report adds that most of these elements have a tacit support of the police and the Lyallpur Town police authorities are aware of these criminals.
These factories manufacture lethal thread through a process that applies a thick coating of chemicals and glass substances on the thread. Normally it is done to cut the thread of opponent’s kite during a contest of kites in the air space but its outcome always proves deadly for human lives. Once the kite is disoriented from its origin after such contests, the stray thread in the air continues to drift away taking its way on the ground and once this razor-sharp thread comes across anyone, it cuts his or her throat.
Meanwhile, a hide and seek game between the police and kite flyers is still going on as different parts of the city witnessed the kites flying in the air space of the city. The police chase the violators and sometimes they scale up the wrong house to catch culprits because it is difficult to pin point the exact roof being used for kite flying.
Dacoit killed in police encounter: A dacoit was killed in an encounter with police when he and his accomplice attempted to escape after snatching a motorcycle and a wallet from a man. Reportedly, the robbery victim Basharat, a resident of Chak No 100 JB, was riding a motorcycle near his village when two gangsters snatched his bike, a mobile phone and a wallet containing Rs 10,000 from him and rushed to escape.
When the dacoits approached the main gate of Small Industries Estate at Sargodha Road, they were stopped for identification by Nishatabad police. The gangsters defied the police, opened fire at the police party and attempted to escape. The police party led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Malik Khalid and Station House Officer (SHO) Mansoor Bilal Cheema retaliated and a shootout erupted between the fleeing dacoits and the police party.
As a result, a 40-year-old unidentified dacoit was killed while his accomplice managed to escape. The police recovered the stolen motorcycle, mobile and cash from the scene and shifted dead body to the Allied Hospital.
EXHUMATION ORDERED: The Jarranwala additional and sessions judge has ordered to exhume the body of a woman died of food poisoning after the deceased brother complained a foul-play in the incident. Reportedly, the deceased Zahida Parveen, a resident of Islam Pura, was the second wife of Asghar.
She died under mysterious circumstances, the death was supposed to be natural and the body was buried. The incident took an altogether a different turn when her family filed a petition to the ASJ that she was poisoned to death by her husband.
The judge ordered the exhumation of the dead body and chemical tests of the body to ascertain the cause of death.
Kite twine factories operating in Faisalabad despite ban
