LAHORE: Political turmoil and violence in the country have claimed a high-profile cultural victim – a centuries-old kite-flying festival that draws thousands of visitors.
The Basant festival brings a springtime buzz to eastern Pakistan and its regional capital, Lahore. Officials usually relax a ban on the pastime – imposed to prevent abandoned strings that are often covered with crushed glass from slitting people’s throats. But the festival has been cancelled this year amid tensions spawned by terrorist attacks and the country’s rocky return to democracy after years of military rule.
Sohail Janjua, a city government spokesman, said the festival was first postponed due to national mourning for assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto, then because of the February 18 parliamentary elections.
Lahore has suffered three suicide attacks since, including two that killed 27 people on March 11, resulting in increased concerns about security. “How can we ignore the deaths of innocent people to celebrate anything?” Janjua said.
In the past, the city’s youth have sent thousands of brightly coloured kites into the sky during the festival, held on a weekend in February or March.
Basant means yellow in Hindi, a reference to the mustard flowers that blossom in the region in early spring.
Crowds of Lahoris typically come out on to rooftops to enjoy the event.
The celebration has been threatened [with cancellation] because of the authorities’ concerns about public safety, and religious conservatives who oppose the festival because it is a reminder of the country’s pre-Islamic past and encourages drinking and dancing. Dedicated kite flyers often engage in duels and use strings made of wire or coated with crushed glass in an attempt to cut down rival’s kites, often after placing bets on the outcome. Authorities tried to ban kite-flying in 2006 after a number of people were killed by sharpened strings, falls from rooftops or celebratory gunfire.
Last year, the authorities allowed only smaller kites with normal strings, but at least 10 people were still fatally slashed. Police detained hundreds in a failed attempt to impose the restrictions.
Irfan Chaudhry, a 24-year-old who injured an arm in a tumble from a roof while flying a kite last year, said he felt sorry the festival was being cancelled. “It is a positive activity, and we should be given a chance to relax and entertain ourselves,” he said. ap
Loading ...
Recent Comments