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11 die as Basant ended in Lahore

26 February, 2007

LAHORE: 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured during Basant celebrations.
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LAHORE: At least 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured during Basant celebrations.

Giving the details,Ruqia Bano, a spokeswoman for the emergency services in Lahore said, the casualities and injuries caused by firing, sharpened kite-strings, electrocution and people falling off roof-tops.

Among the dead, five were hit by stray bullets, including a 6-year-school boy who was struck in the head near his home in the city's Mazang area, Bano said.

On the otherhand, a teen age girl and a schoolboy died after their throats were slashed by metal kite strings whereas two people were electrocuted while they tried to recover kites tangled in overhead power cables, Bano added.

A 13-year-old boy fell to his death from the roof of his home as he tried to catch a kite, and a 35-year-old woman fell off the roof of her home trying to stop her son from running after a stray kite, Bano said.

Most of the cusualties do occur due to sharp kite strings or celebratory gunshots fired into the air. Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival's string or damage the other kite.

It is pertenent to note here that Basant was temporarily banned by the Authorities as dozens of people died while celebrating the event last year in Lahore. According to Mian Amier Mahmood the city Mayor Lahore, the ban has been re-imposed because as the wo-day permission of kite flying has came to end last evening.

According to Lahore police, more than 700 people have been arrested for using banned material like sharpened kite strings or firing guns. The Police also seized 282 illegally held weapons during this year's festival, said Aftab Cheema, a senior Police Officer.

 

Reader Comments:

our calture

on which topic i am going to speak is that why are people fogeting their civilization.?
basant festival isnt our our festival so why we are celebrating.reason is front of you on the basant day obvissly you will see meny accidents appear .I WANT TO SHARE TO THE GOWERMENT OF PAKISTAN THAT MUSHARRAF SHOULD FINISH LIKE FORMELETIES.BE COSE ITS FORMELETIES OF OTHER CONTRY .BASAT I MAKE A REASON OF MENY DETHS .

Rizwan, Pakistan - 26 February, 2007

Basant carelessness

Eleven deaths due to kite flying. Kite flying?

My prayers, of course, are with all those who lost loved ones.

But I have no sympathy for the kite flyers.

Do they have so little regard for others that they can't give up a wire string and just use normal string, for Heavens sake?

Could no one give up the thrill of flying a kite from a roof top, or catching one as it falls from a roof top, for that matter? Why not accept the challenge of the wind and the strength of your body as you run with your kite?

If your kite becomes entangled in wires, why not just give it up and let it go? A kite is a lovely thing,I agree, but not so lovely that it's worth anyone's life.

It is, after all, just a kite, and you are not invincible.

As for "firing sharpened kite strings, I don't know what that means and I don't care enough to try to figure it out.

Bullets? People were killed by stray bullets? I thought Basant was about kites, not bullets...

I'm assuming the average, cautious individual who uses the brain that God gave him stayed safely in his home during all this craziness.

I hope the government will outlaw Basant (whatever that is) and I hope it does it before the next Basant is due to come along.

To those of you who go rushing around with a gun and a kite, please try to remember that every life is sacred. Not just yours...



Ayasha, United Kingdom - 26 February, 2007

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