At least 47 people were arrested during a police crackdown on kite seller and flyers in different parts of the provincial capital, a private media outlet reported Monday.
The crackdown was launched on the instruction of Lahore DIG (Operations) Waqas Nazir.
Hundreds of kites and spools of glass-coated string were recovered from the arrested persons as well.
According to reports, cases against the arrestees have also been registered at different police stations.
As many as 20 kite flyers were arrested from City Division, 10 from Cantt Division, 11 from Model Town Division, three from Iqbal Town Division, two from Civil Lines Division and one from Saddar Division, police said.
It merits a mention here that the recent surge in kite flying incidents comes after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led Punjab government announced lifting the 13-year-old ban on Basant.
The announcement in this regard was made by Punjab Minister for Culture and Information Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, who said that an eight-member committee had been formed to suggest ways and means to deal with the fallout of the great cultural event.
The decision to celebrate the spring festival was later challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) in a plea contending it might cause loss of more innocent lives.
The petitioner, Advocate Safdar Shahin Pirzada contended that the government was diverting the attention of the people from actual issues through such tactics. He submitted that Basant had been banned after incidents in which people lost their lives because the sharp, metal strings used in kite-flying cut their throats.
He said the festival not only resulted in the loss of lives but also caused a loss of billions to public property.
He prayed to the court to set aside the decision of the provincial government and the ban imposed on the festival be maintained.
Meanwhile, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) provincial lawmaker, Hina Pervez Butt also exhorted the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice over the decision of the provincial government.
She made her demand through a resolution submitted in the Punjab Assembly Secretariat, contending it is tantamount to committing contempt of court.
She stated that the government’s decision reflected its non-seriousness as Pakistan occupied 150th spot in the category of developed countries while the government was going to celebrate the festival.
Hina said the government should focus on improving the economic condition rather than making announcements of Basant, adding that the Punjab government in 2009 had made legislation over Basant after it took lives of several innocent people.
She said the house demanded that the ban on Basant be maintained to avoid further loss of human lives. And urged the chief justice to take a suo motu notice of the government’s attitude.
The PML-N MP also demanded of the government to take back its decision making clear that the opposition would not let the treasury waste human lives in the garb of Basant.
