ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani province of Punjab has lifted its long-running ban on Basant, an iconic spring kite-flying festival, after issuing the Punjab Kite Flying Ordinance 2025, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif announced on Wednesday.
The ordinance marks a cautious comeback for a festival that once symbolized the arrival of spring in South Asia but was banned due to fatal kite-string accidents.
Basant, one of Punjab’s most celebrated cultural festivals, would draw thousands to rooftops across Lahore and other cities in the province but was repeatedly banned from 2005 onward after dozens of people were killed or injured by dangerous metal- and chemically-coated kite strings that slashed motorcyclists, pedestrians and even children. Courts and provincial administrations upheld the prohibitions for years, making the revival of Basant one of Punjab’s most politically sensitive cultural decisions.
Its return marks a major policy shift for the province, but one that comes with strict new rules intended to prevent the safety crises that prompted the original ban.
“The Punjab Kite Flying Ordinance 2025 has been issued,” the chief minister said in a statement on her Facebook page, laying out new regulatory requirements to govern the event.
