COLOURFUL kites duelled above Lahore and cries of victory rang out from rooftops, as the city celebrated the lifting of an 18-year ban on a spectacular three-day traditional Punjabi kite-flying festival.
The Basant, a festival marking the onset of spring, was banned in 2008 after deaths and injuries to motorcyclists and pedestrians from stray kite strings – sometimes coated with metal to make them more fearsome in mid-air battles.
The ban was lifted last year due to public demand, and this year’s festival kicked off at midnight on Friday with Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari flying the first kite.
Families and friends crammed through the night onto the rooftops of the Walled City and other neighbourhoods, flying kites, beating drums and shouting out “bo-kata!”, or “hacked!”, the victor’s cry after severing an opponent’s string.
Abdul Aziz, 57, a self-described kite-flying addict, had been bereft during the ban.
“Today, when I dropped the first kite in air, I felt as if there was a space in my life that was now filled,” he said.
Sharmeen Mehmood, 55, an avid kite-flyer since she was 10, said the action had been at its most exciting in the darkness, slowing down with dawn as rooftop revellers sought some rest and the wind eased off, but was expected to pick up again.
The government has banned metallic or chemical-coated killer strings.
Kites and strings must bear individual QR codes so they can be traced, and motorcyclists must attach safety rods to their bikes to fend off stray thread.
Some 4,600 producers registered with the authorities to sell kites and strings.
The festival has been somewhat overshadowed by a suicide bombing in Islamabad on Friday that killed at least 31 people.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said in a post on X that the concert at Liberty Square in Lahore as part of the Basant celebrations had been cancelled because of the attack. — Reuters
