LAHORE: All Pakistan Kite Flying Association (AKFA) has appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to devise rules for kite flying and issue orders for the establishment of a “Kite City” out of Lahore’s urban area.
All Pakistan Paper Merchants Association (APPMA) Vice President and All Pakistan Kite Flying Association (AKFA) Chairman Khawaja Nadeem made the demand while talking to a group of people attached with the kite-flying industry.“The kite-flying industry attaches high hopes with Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice.Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who has already taken a number of decisions in the larger interest of people,” Khawaja Nadeem said.“I have given the proposal of establishing ‘kite cities’ well out of the cities to the Punjab government but bureaucracy has never bothered to reply to me in this regard,” he said.
In the past, he added, thousands of women had been earning livelihood by making kites at their homes but now they are jobless because of a ban on kite flying.“Kite-making had attained the status of cottage industry and provided jobs to thousands of women… but now they are starving due to a ban on kite flying”.Khawaja Nadeem claimed that around 150,000 people in Lahore, 100,000 in Gujranwala and 80,000 in Kasur were rendered jobless and facing hunger after the ban.
He regretted that the festival of Basant was banned due to “vested interests of some people who had made this cultural activity a bloody game”.“A ban is not a solution to the problem,” Khawaja Nadeem said.He appealed to the chief justice to review rules and regulations for kite flying and order establishment of “Kite City/Kite Flying Zone” at a safe place outside Lahore that would not only revive employment of thousands of people but would also undo the negative image of the country in particular and Punjab in general.He said the move would help promote tourism and attract foreign investment in Punjab. – DailyMail
