No Basant

Once again, the citizens of Lahore have been left disappointed after the Punjab government’s decision to not celebrate Basant after all. The centuries-old kite flying festival has been the traditional way Lahoris greeted spring – until a decade-ago when the Supreme Court banned the festival citing safety concerns. While the dozens of lives lost due to the use of glass-coated kite string was unacceptable, there has been more than enough time available to the government to stop the sale of such string. Late last year, the Punjab government had announced that it would bring back Basant; in keeping with its unfortunate U-turn reputation now the Punjab government has decided it will not be going ahead with the festival,

The government has already shown that it can impose a successful ban on kite flying in the provincial capital as well as curbing the production of kites and string. It is hard to believe that it cannot create a mechanism to ensure that only safe kite string is sold. There are a dozen options that the government could choose, such as only allowing the sale of kite string at government-approved stores, or creating special monitored zones where kite flying is allowed.

It is astonishing that the eight-member committee tasked with coming up with effective ways to revive Basant in a safe manner has been unable to come up with any proposal that does not involve scrapping the festival. For those who still remember it, Basant brought life and energy to the city of Lahore. It was also an important source of tourism. One must wonder if the real issue is social conservatism. There have always been those who have frowned on Basant festivities for moral reasons. And the proposal that new legislation is required to revive the festival also sounds ludicrous. To start with, if legislation is indeed needed, then the Punjab government should not need much time to pass it. The fact is that the government can protect lives when it wants to. There is no law per se banning the production and distribution of kites and kite string, but this has been the status quo for 10 years, despite the loss of thousands of jobs. If Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry is serious about the federal government’s will to revive major festivals, it must start by reviving Basant.