As kite fights bring death, a festival is banned
By Justin Huggler, Asia Correspondent
Published: 11 March 2006

The famous Lahore kite festival, the biggest
celebration in the city's calendar and irresistible
occasion for kite enthusiasts the world over, will
this year be different in one crucial respect: kite
flying will be banned.

On the eve of this weekend's competition, the
Pakistani authorities have decided to clamp down on an
activity which they regard as reckless and even
potentially fatal.

At least 74 people were arrested for flying or selling
kites on the streets of Lahore after the ban was
announced. Seven people have been killed by kite
strings coated with glass over the past fortnight,
including a four-year-old boy who bled to death in his
father's arms after his throat was cut. Usually, in
the annual festival of Basant, more than a million
kites fly over Lahore. People come from across the
world as residents fly kites from their rooftops and
the night's sky is floodlit with kite-flying.

But there is a fiercely competitive edge. Lahoris fly
their kites with special strings coated in ground
glass, or made from thin metal wires, which they use
to cut the strings of their opponents' kites. In
Lahore, kites are not for children.

The tradition has had tragic consequences, with
several motorbike riders killed when they unwittingly
drive into the glass-coated strings or wires that are
everywhere in the city. Two child passengers on
motorbikes - a legal mode of transport for children -
and a college student were among the seven who died.

Four-year-old Shayan Ahmad was with his father,
Mohammed Rizwan, riding on the fuel tank of his
father's motorbike, when he hit a kite string. "I saw
my son dying helplessly," said Mr Rizwan. "My son's
death has ruined my life."

Enraged people staged protests after the deaths,
burning kites on the streets of Lahore and the
provincial government of Punjab ordered a complete
ban. Basant has always had deaths, with
over-enthusiastic kite-fliers falling from roofs or
electrocuted when the metal-stringed kites hit power
lines. But deaths of the innocent were too much.

Kites had already been banned by the Supreme Court
last year, but after intense pressure from Lahoris
stripped of their favourite festival, the court had
agreed the ban would be suspended for the two weeks up
to the festival.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~

Pakistan bans 'killer kites' from ancient spring
festival

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Saturday March 11, 2006
The Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk

It is one of Pakistan's great parties - a joyous
spring festival in the southern city of Lahore, the
capital of Punjab province, where party goers crowd on
to rooftops under a riotous sky filled with fluttering
kites. But this year the age-old celebration of Basant
has been cancelled amid worries about killer kites,
knife-sharp strings and ominous threats to prosecute
teenage "terrorists".

On Thursday the Punjab authorities announced a
kite-flying ban, in effect ending this weekend's
festival, after seven recent kite-related deaths. Most
victims had their throats cut by sharpened kite
strings coated with ground glass or metal filings. The
latest to die was a four-year-old boy who bled to
death in his father's arms on Tuesday after their
motorcycle was entangled in a kite string.

"A healthy sport is being turned into a game of
death," said Punjab's chief minister, Pervez Elahi,
offering a ?230 reward for information about vendors
who sell glass-covered string. Those responsible for
kite-related deaths would be punished under Pakistan's
anti-terrorist laws, he said. By yesterday morning
Lahore police had arrested 74 kite sellers and
enthusiasts.
Kite flying is a popular passion across south Asia. It
became a symbol of liberation in Afghanistan, where it
was banned by the Taliban, and acquired a romantic
appeal after the publication of The Kite Runner, a
best-selling novel by Afghan-American author Khaled
Hosseini about a pair of kite enthusiasts in war-time
Kabul.

Indian and Pakistani youngsters give the pastime a
competitive edge through "kite duelling" - trying to
knock a rival's kite from the air by slicing through
his or her string. But the sport, which requires
considerable skill, has acquired a dark underside in
recent years.

To gain the upper hand enthusiasts have spurned cotton
strings for glass-coated versions, often strengthened
with chemicals. The upgraded strings can be as sharp
as a knife and have deadly consequences.

Every year the Pakistani press carries gruesome
accounts of deaths and injuries caused by kite flying,
often of young children or motorcyclists whose throats
have been cut by low-flying kites. A ban on sharpened
string has been widely flouted and public alarm has
steadily mounted.

"This is something of great concern. It gives the
entire festival a bad name," said Yusuf Salahuddin, a
society figure who hosts one of the largest Basant
parties.

Last year the supreme court banned kite flying with
the exception of a 15-day period around Basant. On
Thursday even that window was closed. Muhammad Rizwan,
the father of the boy who died on Tuesday, welcomed
the move. "My son's death has ruined my life," he
said.

The ban will please religious conservatives, who have
long condemned kite flying as un-Islamic