![]() “We have arrested dozens of string producers, sellers and kite-flyers only during the last two months and burnt thousands of spools of the banned string and hundreds of kilograms of confiscated thread,” Rashid Mehmood, a senior police officer in the city of Faisalabad, said. “Most of them import nylon thread from China or develop it at their own small home-based factories,” he said, adding that the government needed to crackdown on manufacturers from the city of Faisalabad, a popular Basant destination, who produced the dangerous thread and supplied it to the rest of the country. “Strict action is required against the use of chemical and metallic twine,” Aleem Khan, provincial minister for local government, had said during a press conference.īut thread manufacture Muhammad Munir defended his industry, saying thick thread was made for industrial purposes but some string-makers misused it. Last week, the government had announced that it needed at least four to six months to prepare for a “safe Basant” and develop a mechanism to register all kite and string manufacturers. That’s the reason we have shelved the plan of celebrating Basant this year.” “Preparations require a comprehensive strategy including new legislation and further training of police, which would take months. “Some incidents of throat-cutting by kite-flying have occurred in different parts of the province in recent weeks and we felt that we need to prepare well to celebrate Basant,” Chohan said. Punjab information Minister Fayyaz ul Hasan Chohan admitted that rogue string manufacturers were the problem and said they produced the dangerous string “underground” and were not easy to identify. ![]() “I would not want Basant to open for the next thousand years because the government can’t control string makers for the next thousand years. “The government cannot ban the killer strings because black sheep of the thread industry will keep producing it,” he said as he poured rice into a bag for a customer. Imran Butt, a former kite maker who now owns a grocery store in the walled city, said he had also recommended to the government that the ban on the festival should not be lifted. Mochi Darwaza used to be a block-long market of tiny kite shops but since 2005, many of the kite sellers have shut down their stores or moved to selling grocery and toys. “I had recommended that the government should not allow Basant unless the production of this dangerous thread can be controlled. “This thread is unbreakable and cuts like a sword,” Papa said. The store is now a warehouse rented out to local businesses. “The government came to me for recommendations about opening Basant and I told them that first there should be a crackdown against those who are producing the prohibited thread,” Muhammad Siddique Papa, who comes from a long line of famous kite-makers, told Arab News outside what used to be his kite shop in Lahore’s ancient Mochi Darwaza. Stray strings have been known to knock out power lines and in some cases tangle around a human neck or limb and cut it. Many kite-flyers indulge in kite duels, flying with thick strings or razor-sharp ones reinforced with glass and chemicals so that they can better attack the opponent’s kites and slice their strings. In that year alone, kites and string worth over Rs.1 billion were sold on Basant day just in the eastern city of Lahore, whose ancient walled enclave is the epicenter of the festival. ![]() But in 2005, the Supreme Court banned the celebration after 19 people died from decapitation by stray strings. Kite-flying has long been a passion in South Asia and for decades, Basant would transform Pakistan’s skies into a glittery kaleidoscope of hundreds of thousands of kites to commemorate the advent of spring. Ironically, it is Pakistan’s kite-makers who have lobbied the government not to lift the ban on the kite carnival. LAHORE: Last December, Pakistan’s passionate kite-flyers rejoiced when officials announced that the boisterous spring festival of Basant, banned almost a decade and a half ago, would be celebrated once more this February.īut their excitement was snuffed out last week when the government gave up on plans to organize the springtime celebration, admitting that it needed more time to clampdown on manufacturers who lace string with chemicals and glass that makes its deadly.
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