Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province has imposed a whole ban on kite flying earlier than the centuries-old Basant competition – which marks the arrival of spring – over public security considerations.
Authorized amendments handed by the provincial meeting impose heavier fines and longer jail phrases for violators that have been in drive beforehand, in a disappointment to revellers who fly kites as a part of an age-old custom to welcome spring – a celebration that stands for pleasure, color and the great thing about nature.
Authorities have defended the most recent measure, saying the usage of metallic and glass-coated strings has prompted accidents and even deaths, making kite-flying a hazard to public security.
However critics say the ban is unjust and in disregard to a preferred cultural competition celebrated by individuals of all faiths within the South Asian nation. Some specialists recommended that authorities may have regulated the usage of harmful strings as a substitute of an outright ban, which has affected the livelihoods of 1000’s of kite makers.
So, why did authorities take such robust measures and can they forestall individuals from flying kites?
What’s the brand new regulation that imposes a complete ban on kite-flying in Punjab?
The Punjab meeting final month formally handed the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying (Modification) Act, 2024, which launched enhanced jail phrases and heavy fines for kite fliers, producers, transporters and sellers.
The regulation represents an modification to the Prohibition of Kite Flying Act, 2007 and has made kite-flying a non-bailable offence.
Underneath the earlier regulation, people caught flying kites may withstand three years in jail or be fined as much as 100,000 rupees ($360), or each. Now, they might withstand 5 years in jail or a two-million rupee ($7,200) effective, or each. If the effective just isn’t paid, an extra yr of imprisonment might be added.
Kite makers and transporters can face between 5 to seven years in jail or a effective of between 500,000 ($1,800) to 5 million rupees ($18,000), together with an extra two years of imprisonment upon failure to pay the effective. The earlier regulation focused making, sale and commerce of kites, however not the transport of kites and harmful kite strings.
The regulation prohibits the transport of “kites, metallic wire, nylon wire, some other thread coated with sharp maanjha [glass-coated string] or some other injurious materials for the aim of kite flying”.
The brand new regulation additionally contains particular penalties for minors. The primary offence by a minor will end in a warning, and the second offence in a 50,000-rupee ($180) effective. A 3rd offence would appeal to a 100,000-ruppe ($360) effective, whereas a fourth offence will result in imprisonment beneath the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, in response to a abstract posted on-line by the Punjab police.
Earlier legal guidelines allowed kite-flying after permission from authorities on sure events and tried to control the manufacture, sale, and buying and selling of kites with lesser penalties for violators.
Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, a legislator from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League occasion, mentioned the stricter penalties, which can apply throughout the province, have been wanted to avoid wasting the lives of harmless individuals.
The newest measures took impact earlier than the Basant competition, celebrated on the fifth day of the lunar month of Magha. This yr’s spring competition started on February 2, however kite-flying golf equipment have pledged to defy the ban.
Has Punjab issued curbs on kite flying earlier than?
Sure. The federal government in Punjab province has issued a sequence of govt orders and bans to attempt to crack down on kite flying for the reason that early 2000s, together with an emergency regulation handed in 2001.
In 2005, the Supreme Courtroom of Pakistan directed the Punjab authorities to control the manufacture, commerce and even flying of kites in response to an outcry over dozens of accidents and deaths prompted yearly by the glass, metal-coated or nylon strings.
Punjab’s provincial capital Lahore additionally imposed a kite-flying ban in 2005 to handle what the highest court docket mentioned was a “menace”.
What different actions have authorities taken to discourage kite-flying?
Over time, penal, judicial in addition to legislative measures have failed to forestall the revelers from flying kites.
Authorities have additionally roped in spiritual leaders to drive residence the purpose that kite flying is harmful. Spiritual students in session with Lahore police have issued a fatwa, or Islamic edict, declaring kite flying un-Islamic.
One-wheeling on a motorcycle and aerial firing, different frequent actions throughout the Basant celebrations, have been additionally declared un-Islamic. The ruling was based mostly on Quranic verses emphasising the preservation of human life and prohibiting acts that endanger it.
Police have cracked down on kite producers, with Punjab police confiscating greater than 100,000 kites in Lahore – a regional hub for kite-making – final yr.
Authorities have additionally organised consciousness campaigns on the dangers of kite flying.
How harmful is kite-flying in Punjab?
Kite-flying competitions, which contain contributors making an attempt to chop one another’s kites utilizing glass or metal-coated string or nylon cords, happen in densely crowded neighbourhoods in cities throughout Pakistan.
Fierce competitors has turned the centuries-old custom right into a lethal sport as some kite flyers have died falling from buildings, whereas sharp strings – often known as maanjha – coated with glass paste have prompted deaths of bystanders or bikers.
Moreover, if the string is coated with metallic, it may well conduct electrical energy if it touches energy traces, probably inflicting electrocution, short-circuits or fires. This may take hours to revive in an already power poor nation. In some areas, energy grids are switched off to forestall quick circuits, inflicting disruption in common actions.
What has been the response to the ban?
Kite flying teams have been defiant, with the Rawalpindi Kite Flying Affiliation saying it plans to rejoice Basant on February 13 and 14.
Sheikh Saleem, a former chief of Lahore’s kite flying federation, instructed BBC Urdu that as a substitute of banning the exercise utterly, officers needs to be extra proactive in taking motion towards producers of glass coated kite strings.
Nonetheless, Khalid Zafar, who heads a regulation agency based mostly in Lahore, says imposing this sort of regulation would require extra assets, which the police drive lacks and the federal government won’t be prepared to put money into.
Police have additionally struggled to crack down on kite producers, a few of whom flex political connections.
However some media organisations have backed the federal government resolution. The Tribune newspaper referred to as the measures “a daring however crucial measure that prioritises public security over custom”.
“Whereas the Basant competition holds a cherished place in our cultural heritage, it’s important to recognise that security should come first, particularly when tragic incidents have marred the enjoyment of this vibrant celebration prior to now,” the paper mentioned in its editorial on January 25.
“The fervour and enthusiasm surrounding Basant are undeniably lovely, however they can’t overshadow the duty we bear in direction of the protection of our fellow residents… Critics of the ban argue that it infringes on cultural expression, however tradition should evolve to replicate our values, together with the paramount significance of human life.”
Mirza Iftikhar Baig, 85, a Lahore resident, is upset on the ban, saying “kite-flying was a sport for us.”
In the course of the day, individuals would fly vibrant kites that embellished the sky, and at evening, white ones that fluttered like stars, Baig instructed Al Jazeera, reminiscing concerning the festivities.
“Folks would make particular dishes like carrot pudding and get collectively,” mentioned Baig, who was an avid kite flyer throughout his youth rising up in Lahore’s walled metropolis.
However the 85-year-old Lahore resident mentioned throughout his time, individuals solely used protected, cotton string kites, not like the metallic or glass-coated strings that pose a hazard to public security immediately.
What has been the financial impact of the ban?
Some analysts level out the impact on kite producers and the ensuing lack of livelihoods of 1000’s of employees.
Current knowledge on the size of the business is scarce, however in 2004, Basant-related actions generated an estimated 220 million rupees ($790,000) in income in Lahore alone, and created enterprise price as much as three billion rupees (some $7m) province-wide, benefitting employees and cottage industries.
The kite-making business employs an estimated 1.5 million individuals throughout Pakistan.
Most employees within the business are ladies, and the ban wouldn’t solely render them jobless but additionally have an effect on associated industries like bamboo, thread, glue, and paper, say specialists.
“Sadly, as a result of most people related to kite commerce have been poor or home-based employees, they weren’t capable of increase their voice towards anti-kite flying legal guidelines,” mentioned Zafar.
What’s Basant and the place is it celebrated?
Punjab has traditionally been recognized for its centuries-old Basant competition, which celebrates the arrival of spring and agricultural produce. Basant means spring within the Hindi and Punjabi languages.
The Punjab area, which straddles India and Pakistan, is understood for its fertile land and vibrant tradition – and the hovering of vibrant kites within the sky is a mirrored image of that.
Lahore and Kasur in Pakistan’s Punjab, and Amritsar throughout the border in India’s Punjab, have been a few of the key cities the place Basant has historically been celebrated for hundreds of years.
Raza Ahmad Rumi, director at Park Middle for Impartial Media at Ithaca School, says the curbs on kite-flying – which is the centrepiece of Basant competition – signify a cultural erasure.
The competition turned not solely a “cultural marker” within the metropolis’s [Lahore’s] panorama, however it was additionally an inclusive occasion that introduced collectively the wealthy and poor, in addition to various communities and age teams, making it a continuation of Lahore’s “pluralistic tradition”, he instructed Al Jazeera, referring to the town’s blended demography (Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims) earlier than the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
“[The ban] by the federal government after which subsequently by the court docket has been a serious rupture, I might say, within the shared cultural values between India and Pakistan, particularly on each side of the Punjab area,” he mentioned.
