Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province has imposed an entire ban on kite flying earlier than the centuries-old Basant competition – which marks the arrival of spring – over public security issues.
Authorized amendments handed by the provincial meeting impose heavier fines and longer jail phrases for violators that had 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 fantastic 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 well-liked cultural competition celebrated by folks of all faiths within the South Asian nation. Some consultants steered that authorities may have regulated the usage of harmful strings as an alternative of an outright ban, which has affected the livelihoods of 1000’s of kite makers.
So, why did authorities take such powerful measures and can they stop folks 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.
Beneath the earlier regulation, people caught flying kites may resist three years in jail or be fined as much as 100,000 rupees ($360), or each. Now, they might resist 5 years in jail or a two-million rupee ($7,200) high-quality, or each. If the high-quality shouldn’t be paid, an extra yr of imprisonment might be added.
Kite makers and transporters can face between 5 to seven years in jail or a high-quality 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 high-quality. 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 consists of particular penalties for minors. The primary offence by a minor will lead to a warning, and the second offence in a 50,000-rupee ($180) high-quality. A 3rd offence would entice a 100,000-ruppe ($360) high-quality, whereas a fourth offence will result in imprisonment underneath the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, in line with 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 social gathering, mentioned the stricter penalties, which is able to apply throughout the province, had been wanted to save lots of the lives of harmless folks.
The most recent 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 government orders and bans to attempt to crack down on kite flying because the early 2000s, together with an emergency regulation handed in 2001.
In 2005, the Supreme Court docket 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 deal with what the highest courtroom 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 stop the revelers from flying kites.
Authorities have additionally roped in spiritual leaders to drive house the purpose that kite flying is harmful. Non secular students in session with Lahore police have issued a fatwa, or Islamic edict, declaring kite flying un-Islamic.
One-wheeling on a bike and aerial firing, different frequent actions through the Basant celebrations, had been additionally declared un-Islamic. The ruling was primarily based 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 members attempting 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 will possibly conduct electrical energy if it touches energy strains, doubtlessly inflicting electrocution, short-circuits or fires. This will take hours to revive in an already vitality poor nation. In some areas, energy grids are switched off to stop 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 have a good time Basant on February 13 and 14.
Sheikh Saleem, a former chief of Lahore’s kite flying federation, informed BBC Urdu that as an alternative of banning the exercise utterly, officers must be extra proactive in taking motion in opposition to producers of glass coated kite strings.
Nevertheless, Khalid Zafar, who heads a regulation agency primarily based in Lahore, says implementing this sort of regulation would require extra assets, which the police drive lacks and the federal government won’t be prepared to spend money on.
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 determination. The Tribune newspaper known as the measures “a daring however vital 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 up to now,” the paper mentioned in its editorial on January 25.
“The eagerness and enthusiasm surrounding Basant are undeniably lovely, however they can not overshadow the accountability we bear in the direction of the security of our fellow residents… Critics of the ban argue that it infringes on cultural expression, however tradition should evolve to mirror 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.”
Throughout the day, folks would fly vibrant kites that adorned the sky, and at evening, white ones that fluttered like stars, Baig informed 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, folks solely used protected, cotton string kites, not like the metallic or glass-coated strings that pose a hazard to public security right this moment.
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 staff.
Current information on the dimensions 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 staff and cottage industries.
The kite-making business employs an estimated 1.5 million folks throughout Pakistan.
Most staff within the business are ladies, and the ban wouldn’t solely render them jobless but in addition have an effect on associated industries like bamboo, thread, glue, and paper, say consultants.
“Sadly, as a result of most people related to kite commerce had been poor or home-based staff, they weren’t in a position to increase their voice in opposition to anti-kite flying legal guidelines,” mentioned Zafar.
What’s Basant and the place is it celebrated?
Punjab has traditionally been identified 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 thought 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 Unbiased Media at Ithaca School, says the curbs on kite-flying – which is the centrepiece of Basant competition – symbolize 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 numerous communities and age teams, making it a continuation of Lahore’s “pluralistic tradition”, he informed Al Jazeera, referring to the town’s combined 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 courtroom has been a serious rupture, I might say, within the shared cultural values between India and Pakistan, particularly on either side of the Punjab area,” he mentioned.
