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Basant Festival - Lahore / Pakistan |
| Defying
a chilly night, a bitter drizzle and the reprimands of the mullahs,
Pakistanis broke loose this weekend in a boisterous annual rite of
spring: Grown men lost sight of everything but chasing kites in the
sky, children stayed up until dawn, women reveled on roofs, dressed
in the color of mustard blossoms. Even the birds seemed to forgo their ordinary routines, standing aside as hundreds of thousands of kites - white, pink, purple, polka-dotted, and most improbably, a replica of the American flag - soared and dipped over Lahore. On roofs in the old city and in the farmhouses of the rich, parties went on night and day. On Sunday evening, the muezzin called for prayer as firecrackers burst. |
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Basant,
Lahore's version of Carnival, had arrived. "It's a time when you can feel free and enjoy yourself," explained Zaheer Alam, 22, a college student who had driven four hours from Rawalpindi to fly kites at a public monument here. Around him, a gaggle of boys armed with tree branches skirmished to snatch a stray kite. "We have a passion for kite flying," said Qamar Hassan, stating the obvious. Eyes glued to his kite way up in the gray Sunday morning sky, he was anxious to mow down a rival's kite before his own kite was mowed down. He and his friends had flown their kites until 5 a.m., only to return a few hours later to do it all again. Sleep was not on their minds. By the time a downpour began in midafternoon, only the hardy remained outside. By the thousands, vanquished kites hung limply from trees. |
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| Long
before Pakistan and India were cut into two, Basant, whose Sanskrit
root means spring, was celebrated across this farm belt called the
Punjab and nowhere more so than here, in this ancient walled city. When the India-Pakistan partition split the Punjab in two, Basant remained a Lahori heirloom, but not without detractors. For years, Basant has been dogged by Islamists, who denounced it as a Hindu festival. Even this year, a petition was filed in court to try to suspend Basant celebrations on the ground that they are un-Islamic. The court dismissed the case. To its proponents, Basant, which is also celebrated by Punjabis in India, offers a chance to show off a looser, freer Pakistan. "Basant is the perfect antidote to those who think Pakistan is a fundamentalist country," said Feisal Naqvi, a Lahore lawyer. |
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Basant
has also come under fire for being dangerous.
The metal strings that many kite fans favor have been known to knock out power lines and slit the throats of bystanders, and Basant weekend can be prone to a string of blackouts and accidents across the city. Saqi Shazada, a maker of kite string, said his string was so thin it could not possibly slit anyone's throat. Before him, workers coated long stretches of string with a paste of crushed glass: the sharper the glass, the more lethal against its rivals in the sky. |
| As
for the mullahs who reprimand Basant revelers for un-Islamic activity,
Mr. Shazada shrugged. "What is un-Islamic
about it?" he said. "We enjoy
sitting with our families." "This is part of the blood of the Punjabi," boasted Waqar Ashraf, his brother and a kite seller. "Like eating roti," a whole-wheat flatbread that is the staple of a Punjabi meal. A customer, Hammad Hassan, confessed to agreeing with the mullahs' objections. Then, looking at the two rolls of string he had just bought, he said sheepishly, "But this is just for one day." |
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| Agence
France-Presse reported 13 deaths related to Basant this weekend; among
the victims were two people who were struck by a car as they chased
a stray kite. Reports filed by 'Pakistan Times' staffers till mid-night speak of awful incidents during the past 24 hours wherein almost 20 people lost their lives with over 500 injured-some of them are reported to be in critical condition in sickbays. |
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Sorry
to say that most of the victims were kids, who succumbed to the wounds,
inflicted by lethal strings alike sharp wires which are used for Kite-Flying.
Though the use of such filament as thread to fly the kites was banned
by authorities Seven persons were crushed to death while trying to catch stray kites, six others died after falling from rooftop of their houses, two teenaged boys died after being hit by stray bullets in two different incidents in Gowalmandi, while a 7-years old boy was electrocuted and a four years-old girl was killed when a stray string slit open her throat. At least 500 persons were injured due to similar causes, though a large number of those on the injury list were in fact hit by stray bullets. At least 54 of the 180 injured treated at the Mayo Hospital emergency ward, were hit by stray bullets. While the use of metal twine led to power breakdowns all day long, it also proved fatal in some cases. Two minors were electrocuted when metal twine came in contact with power cables. 24 patients whose throats were cut by twine at different roads, and shifted them to hospitals. "Majority of them were on motorcycles when they came in contact with twines," an official said. |
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| "156 people majority of children and teenagers, have been admitted to the Neuro-surgery and Orthopedic Departments of the LGH," on-duty doctors said Sunday evening. They said that most of such cases include people with broken bones and head injuries. |
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Extrait : NewYork Times et Pakistan Times , 7 février 2005. Crédit photos : Muhammad Ali Musa TrekEarth members |
