Kite flying used to be a renowned cultural sport in Pakistan and used to be celebrated in the annual Basant festival in large parts of the country, especially Punjab. Owing to the cultural importance of kite flying, kite-making was a major informal industry involving a large number of women workers. In 1995, a petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against WAPDA seeking a direction to impose load shedding during Basant night. Anoral prayer was also made to ban Basant as it was alleged to be a Hindu festival. The LHC dismissed the petition holding that the festival was a cultural tradition and in the absence of any law prohibiting Basant, no restriction could be placed on it. But again in 1997, another
petition was filed in the LHC seeking a ban on celebrating Basant, as well as on flying and manufacturing kites on the basis of ‘morality and desirability’. It was alleged that Basant “endangered public peace and tranquility” and was an ‘un-Islamic, illegal and unlawful tradition and custom of the Hindus’. It was also sought in the petition that a direction to the Punjab government should also be given to enact a law that banned kite flying, aerial firing and addressed other safety hazards. This petition was disposed off with a direction to the government to effectively deal with the hazards of Basant; as for the question of it being an un-Islamic activity, it was held that this could only be looked into by the Federal Shariat Court6. This order was appealed against by the petitioner, and heard by the division bench of the LHC. The Punjab government placed on record certain measures that it had taken in compliance with the earlier order, which included: imposing a complete ban on the manufacture, sale and use of metal wire for kite flying, or any aerial firing, or misuse of loud-speakers; around 2,000 security bonds in the amount of Rs 500,000 were taken from the owners and managers of places where public Basant festivals were being held as an assurance for adhering to the code of conduct; special squad teams were formed, which included the police, magistrates, WAPDA officials and citizens, who identified and raided units manufacturing metal wire for use in kite flying; penal action was taken against individuals for aerial firing; warnings were issued through distribution of handbills and publicity campaigns were also carried out in an attempt to educate the public on the dangers associated with irresponsible kite flying. The appeal was disposed off with a direction to the Council of Islamic Ideology to address the issue of whether or not Basant was an un-Islamic festival. In 2001 the Punjab Prohibition on Kite Flying Ordinance was promulgated by the governor. This law was later enacted by the Punjab Assembly in 2009. Later, in 2005 the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo moto of a press clipping sent by a citizen. It held that the law promulgated by the Punjab government was admittedly insufficient, as it did not contain preventive mechanisms, nature of criminal liability, followed by a penal offence, for causing deaths and injuries, particularly to the innocent citizens including the children, who have sustained losses of life and property for none of their fault. In a number of cases deaths had taken place by a sudden incision of throat by a reinforced kite flying string to the motorcyclists and pedestrians.” The law
penalized the kite-flyer but left the people responsible for the killer string unattended to; consequently a ban was placed on kite flying. Over the years, the innocent sport of kite flying turned into a potentially fatal one, largely due to the string or ‘dor’ used to fly kites. In addition to lethal ‘maanjhaas’ (a dough-like material used on the string) on the traditional string, which make it razor-sharp, nylon and metal strings were also being used. Later, following some tragic incidents reportedly caused by kite string, the Commissioner of Lahore declared that the administration will not tolerate any further untoward incident caused by kite flying. The District administration engaged special branch officials to identify those involved in kite-business. It is important to note that a two-member bench of the Supreme Court denied a petitioner’s request for imposition of a ban on kite-flying ruling that the activity should be regulated, not prohibited. A sport cannot be blamed if a person playing it dies, noted Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Supreme Court in that petition. “People die in traffic accidents but driving has not been banned, cricket would not be banned if someone were to die after being hit with the ball”, the Justice observed while hearing this petition. It is important to note that the court had taken suo moto notice in 2005 on Shehzad Ahmed Sheikh’s application. Sheikh, the father of a 28-year-old Fahim Shehzad7 whose vocal cords suffered irreparable damage after his throat was reportedly slit by kite string, prayed the court to impose a “complete ban” on kite flying. In another case, Advocate Qamar Zaman Qureshi, counsel for the Kite Flying Association, appearing in a petition submitted that kite flying was regulated under the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying Ordinance 2001. Justice Hussain Jilani, the head of the bench, asked him who had stopped his clients from flying kites to which Qureshi replied that the activity had been banned in 2010 by the Lahore High Court. At this, Justice Jilani said that kite-flying should continue, but in accordance with the law8.