Thousands suffer as kite-flying ban stays in force

LAHORE – “No one has any idea how many people have died and how many others are still suffering because of a ban on kite flying,” says Khalid, a thread manufacturer. “There have been suicides, deaths and several women and young girls have taken to prostitution, only because the Punjab government could not come up with a better strategy to handle Basant,” he says.
The ban is not only restricted to Basant, but stretches out the entire year and stops anyone from kite flying, has ended up leaving the kite making community scarred for what it seems to be life. While the general populace has qualms about missing Basant festivals something that they could celebrate, the more afflicted party is that who has lost out financially, and is now living in intense poverty. Where once they make enough money to live contentedly, today they have bowed down to the heavyweight of financial pressures and have ended up losing the only work that they knew since decades.
Khalid who has been manufacturing threads has also lost his business. He says he had a textile mill, which made threads for stitching footballs and other sports goods, but mostly earned by making thread for kites. Now he is neck deep in a debt of Rs 40 million and he says he has no idea how he will pay it. “I had to borrow loans from the bank to set up another business, which failed. But I will manage somehow. My heart bleeds however for those who cannot even replace their old work, by doing something else. I know several families who have had to face suicide, and have their women end up as prostitutes. Many have died out of ill health and starvation,” he laments.
Kite making has always been a business restricted to the informal sector. It was work that kept both women and men earning, and work was shared by entire families, who could earn up to Rs 2,000 a day. Today they are broke with no work to do. In only rare incidents have those affected been able to shift their line of work, but even then they are reported to not be as prosperous as they used to be.
“Putting a ban on kite flying is as ridiculous as not making any more roads because people have accidents on them,” says Khalid.
“What would have been more appropriate would be to shift the festival in the outskirts of the city, where there are less motorbikes, and also monitor the quality of kite string being produced,” he says. Khawaja Omar, who owned a shop is now living a life of misery, daily waking up to feel that sliver of pain in the form of financial problems. He says his mind nags him to make more money, but he cannot, yet he must because he has to support his family.
“Just think of the hypocrisy and the irony,” he says. “People like Rana Sanaullah celebrate Basant in other small towns, yet they have put a ban in Lahore. No one knows this but Basant has been celebrated with fervour in Faisalabad, Sahiwal, and other places. It is only Lahore that is suffering,” Omar laments. Omar says that since the ban he has been suffering continuously every year. “It is not even only Basant season that has been banned from celebration, we cannot do our business the rest of the year either.
Sometimes we get large orders from Dubai, US and UK and some other place, so we manage to pull through with our return, but prior to the ban, there would never be scraping through like we are doing now,” he laments. “Those who spoiled this event were people belonging to the upper classes, rich people, who wanted to play unfairly and break rules of the sport. These people have extra money to throw and they would buy strings made from glass and chemical, something quite expensive. Otherwise this is a poor man’s sport it has nothing to do with the rich elites,” Omar says. He says that he gets only around Rs 100 every day.
He has tried out different jobs but not much has worked out for him. “I sometimes remember I used to make upto Rs 20,000 during Basant and sometimes even make around an Rs 0.1 million,” Omar says. “Our issue is not about the month of Basant,” says Javed, who has been associated with the kite market at the Mochi Gate. His family made kites at home and today he has to do odd jobs to make money. “The business goes on for the rest of the eleven months too, thousands of people have been rendered jobless because of a categorical ban, snatching away the source of work and income,” he laments.
Khalid blames the general public to be part of it. “Basant is being celebrated in other cities too, even Karachi which never had that atmosphere. Lahore’s public is passive. They aren’t protesting and they just want it to be safely allowed by the Punjab government. Until that is done, they will just sit at home and whine about it but they won’t do anything to make the Punjab government review this ban. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs.”