Authorities ban spring kite festival in Punjab

Lahore: Authorities in Punjab province have banned a spring kite festival after the deaths of 18 people including children.

Talking to the families of eight people who died during the festival, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervez Elahi said the ban, which was relaxed for the two-day event last weekend, would be permanent.

Elahi handed them compensation cheques worth Rs1.7 million (Dh102,933).

He said they would arrest everyone in the house if there was a violation of the kite-flying ban there. "Breach of the ban will not be allowed at any cost," he said.

He added 600 people had been arrested for firing during kite-flying and other violations and stern legal action would be taken against them.

The festival, called Basant, is traditionally the occasion for posh events and parties in central Pakistan but the kite-battles fought between ordinary people on their rooftops are the occasion's attraction.

Most years there are around a dozen fatalities caused by celebratory aerial firing and falling from rooftops, and from severing of necks by a banned glass-coated nylon kite string. And this year was no exception.

Last year the Supreme Court banned all kite-flying in Pakistan. Islamist parties have long opposed Basant on the grounds that it has Hindu or pagan origins but this year they held protests focusing on the deaths.