Police 'harassing' kite dealers in Lahore

Lahore: In a bid to discourage people from celebrating the traditional sport of kite-flying, the Lahore police have started harassing kite dealers in the run up to the Basant festival.

A police crackdown began in Lahore on Friday and continued till noon yesterday. According to the general secretary of the Kite-flying Association, Shaikh Saleem, the police were harassing kite dealers all across the city. "Police want to mint money from the kite dealers. They are not accepting licences given to us by the government.

Greasing palms

"Police [have] closed shops in Mughalpura, Ramgarh, Wahdat Road, Ichra, Samnabad and Bedian Road and allowed them to open after a lot of negotiations or when their palms were greased. Many kite dealers were nabbed and later released after money was paid," he said.

The Association's office bearers said the police are campaigning against kite-flying. "Rather than trying to help ensure safe kite-flying, they have started condemning it. They are running campaigns on cable TVs across the city. We will not sit idle. We too will run ad campaigns in the media for safe kite-flying," Saleem said.

He appealed to the Punjab chief minister to look into the matter and issue orders to end the harassment of kite dealers. President of the Association Khawaja Nadeem Syed Wyne condemned the police crackdown on kite dealers terming it a deplorable action. He said the government was issuing licences on the one hand while police were being given a free hand to harass the dealers.