LAHORE, Pakistan – Pakistan’s Supreme Court has extended a ban on making, selling and flying kites that it imposed two months ago after ruling the sport had become increasingly deadly, an official said Saturday.
While the court was hearing the case, which it decided on Friday, police swung batons and lobbed tear gas shells outside the building to disperse about 500 kite makers and kite-flying enthusiasts who were trying to attend the proceedings.
The court ruled to extend the ban until it meets on Jan. 26, said Aftab Iqbal, advocate general for eastern Punjab province.
Lahore, the province capital, is the site of an annual kite-flying festival in which tens of thousands of people fly kites from rooftops and sports fields.
Hard-line Muslims oppose the festival, called Basant, as a waste of money and consider it a Hindu festival. It is also celebrated with loud music and yellow dresses.
The sport sometimes turns deadly when people fall from roofs or are wounded by metal-lined strings. The strings are popular for use in kite battles in which people try to cut each others’ lines.
The Supreme Court banned kite flying Oct. 25 because of the increasing deaths, Iqbal said.
Some 19 people died and more than 200 were injured in February during Basant, which means “yellow” in Hindi and heralds spring.
Iqbal said the government is planning to pass a law for a partial or complete ban on kite flying or to restrict kites to fields or open spaces.
“A draft law would be ready for examination by the Supreme Court when it meets next time,” he said.
Violations of the Supreme Court ban can be punished by up to six months in jail.
A lawyer representing 90 kite manufacturers said the ban would leave some 100,000 people jobless.
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