While authorities are planning to continue the ban on Basant this year, All Pakistan Kite Flying Association appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to allow kite-flying outside urban areas, so that the centuries-old tradition can be preserved.
All Pakistan Kite Flying Association Chairman Khawaja Nadeem Wayn said around 150, 000 people in Lahore and 180, 000 in Gujranwala and Kasur had lost their jobs due to the ban on kite-flying and were facing hardship as they had no other means to earn a livelihood. A ban was imposed on Basant, the kite flying festival that heralds the arrival of spring, seven years ago after several people, including children, lost their lives when their throats were entangled in the glass-coated twine used for kites.
“The kite flying industry pins high hopes on Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry as he has already taken a number of historical decisions in the interest of the masses,” Wayn said. “We have given a proposal to the Punjab government to establish a ‘kite city’ outside the limits of the cities but the bureaucracy has not even bothered to reply. Thousands of women used to earn a livelihood by making kites at home but now they are sitting idle because of the complete ban on Basant,” he said. Wayne said that kite-making had attained the status of a cottage industry and was providing employment to thousands of people, especially women. “Instead of taking measures to address the few problems, the entire festival has been banned”, he said. The government decided to continue with the ban on Basant this year after the police department said it could not guarantee the safety of the people on the roads during the festival.