Hamza Malick<\/p>\n
Every year, we used to celebrate the Basant festival in February when the winter chill gave way to herald the advent of summer. Peo\u00adple would throng kite markets in Lahore to buy their favourite colourful kites of every shape and spools of different quali\u00adties to mark this two day fes\u00adtival. Families, relatives, and friends would come from dif\u00adferent cities to enjoy this beau\u00adtiful carnival.
\nAt night, there were barbeque, par\u00adties, and music, shouting and spe\u00adcial slogans like \u201cbo ka ta\u201d or \u201cnaya ura\u201d (fly new kite) were quite popular among the people. Roofs were cleaned and bespangled so as to lighten up the sky, to see innumerable kites dancing, moving and twirling conspicuously, covering the sky. Such a stripe of night came only once a year when the sky was covered with kites.
\nThe following day, at noon, orang\u00ades were the special fruits to relish and enjoy this festivity. I have never ever seen a multitude of people together on the roofs everywhere and exceedingly happy and excited in my life. It was in\u00addeed a sight worth seeing. I have been there, done that.
\nHistorically, Basant Panchami is also known by two other monikers, \u2018Vasant Panchami\u2019 and \u2018Shri Panchami\u2019 is an old important Hindu festival. In the 19th century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the founder of Sikh Empire, also the prime mover of this tradition, used to hold this festival annually in the month of February to commence the spring sea\u00adson. As Spring traditionally symbolises a new start, optimism and happiness af\u00adter months of inclement weather, Ranjit Singh and his consort Moran would ac\u00adcoutre themselves in yellow and colour\u00adful attires and fly kites on this day.
\nAs years passed on, this festival tran\u00adscended borders and became the cy\u00adnosure and interest for the people in Pakistan. The first three traditional ar\u00adeas in which the Basant was marked were Amritsar, Kasur and Lahore. Fol\u00adlowing suit, some other countries also jumped on the bandwagon recently and now it is celebrated in many countries of the world like UAE, KSA, Germany, In\u00addia and many other countries sadly ex\u00adcluding Pakistan. Due to increased in\u00adjuries caused by stray kite strings, the Supreme Court of Pakistan took a suo moto notice back in year 2005 and banned this festivity.
\nIt has been virtually two decades since the Punjab government, or the state imposed blanket ban on this long-established tradition to save people\u2019s lives from the deadly string. Let me put it in a different way; if someone has a splitting headache, he does not sever his head, instead de takes medicine for it to heal from it. Likewise, if there is a problem with the string, ban using the string, why ban the whole festival.
\nThere are two main reasons for stamping out this festival. The first mo\u00adtive is that people use glass-coated ma\u00adterial to make the string sharper to cut their rivals\u2019 kites. This string must be curtailed and avoided to make Bas\u00adant safer especially for the motorcyclist who are most vulnerable to this life-taking string on the roads.
\nThe second motive is that the state has banned this centuries-old festivi\u00adty to please some parochial and philis\u00adtine clerics in the country who invari\u00adably throw spanner in the works to celebrate this secular colourful lost tra\u00addition. When Basant can be marked in Kasur, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and oth\u00ader parts of the country despite state re\u00adstriction, why not in Lahore.
\nEvery year, police round up kite fly\u00aders and kite peddlers from different cit\u00adies and put their pictures on social media just to show that the government is tak\u00ading action against offenders, but the point I want to make here is that where are the police before run-up to Basant when all these preparations are being made?
\nThe state should not cancel this tradi\u00adtion of kite flying because of a few cer\u00adtain figures as it attracts tourists from across the world and brings revenue in the form of dollars to our dollar starved country. The government has been try\u00ading to attract tourists and investors for the last many years from abroad but has failed outright. This festival instead is and should be an opportunity for the government to take advantage of it and promote Pakistan\u2019s true image, food, rich history, culture, and hospitality to the global level to attract them.
\nIn times of such unprecedented crisis where finding pleasures have become a luxury, the state must lift the ban and let people enjoy the festival for only two days in a year within the parameters de\u00adclared and described by the state. It is not a tall order. Aerial firing on celebra\u00adtory occasions like Basant, New Year\u2019s Eve, marriages and Independence Day must be controlled and those who in\u00advolve in this hazardous act must be pe\u00adnalised as stringently as possible.
\nThis is not just a festival to be cele\u00adbrated but a bread and butter for thou\u00adsands of people whose jobs and families are associated with this profession. Un\u00ademployment is already unprecedented and those who are somehow paddling their own canoe, the state must not de\u00adprive them of their jobs.
\nNow, let us address the elephant in the room to celebrate Basant – safely. I would like to recommend some work\u00adable solutions to do this.
\nAt first, the government should an\u00adnounce two day official holiday across Punjab. In addition to, there should be a restriction on bike riding on major ar\u00adteries of the country. Furthermore, peo\u00adple must avoid going out with their fam\u00adilies and children on bikes. Third, 1122 helpline service should be put on more alert to respond quickly if something tragic and untoward transpires. Last\u00adly, the government should also learn and replicate how the other countries are marking this festival safely. If this is done, only then we can safely celebrate Basant in Pakistan.
\nLet the sky once again be covered with kites. Let the shouts and slogans of Basant echo in the unfilled spac\u00ades of Pakistan. Let us give millions of people a reason to get together, smile, partake in fun fights after two decades. Let the people demonstrate and turn their pent-up disenchant\u00adment into happiness and to prove that they are still a living nation.
\nI request the venerated first-ever elect\u00aded-woman CM of Punjab, the bureaucra\u00adcy and the powers that be to reconsider their decision and lift ban on Basant and let people have some fun with precau\u00adtionary measures to make this lost fes\u00adtival a win-win avocation for everyone.
\nThe writer is a columnist and academic. He can be contacted at hamza.malick0341@gmail.com
\nCourtesy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hamza Malick Every year, we used to celebrate the Basant festival in February when the winter chill gave way to herald the advent of summer. Peo\u00adple would throng kite markets in Lahore to buy their favourite colourful kites of every shape and spools of different quali\u00adties to mark this two day fes\u00adtival. Families, relatives, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13321],"class_list":{"0":"post-394247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-hamza-malick"},"yoast_head":"\n