February 22, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 23, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The Supreme Court was on Tuesday requested to take notice of recent violations of its restrictions on kite flying which resulted in the death of three children.

Filed under original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on fundamental rights, the Rawalpindi District Bar Association vice- president Chaudhry Masood Akhter has sought direct intervention of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in the violations of the Kite Flying Amendment Ordinance Punjab and misuse of 15-day interim relaxation granted by the court.

Counsel of the petitioner Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry moved the petition, which earlier was returned by the court’s registrar office. Now he has directly sent the petition to the CJ with a request “to urgently take the matter in public interest as it involved issues like loss of innocent lives in the name of entertainment.”

While sitting in Lahore, a Supreme Court bench had banned kite flying and kite manufacturing, especially in the Punjab. Later, the Punjab government promulgated the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying (Amendment) Ordinance 2006, allowing kite flying and manufacturing of kites and strings for 15 days.

At this, the court directed Punjab and other provincial governments to permit kite flying for a fortnight but adhere to extraordinary safety and precautionary measures to save the lives of people.

The court had warned that in case of any death it would consider withdrawing the 15-day relaxation starting from late February to early March.

Three children were killed recently while violation of the law was reported even before the start of the period.

Advocate Ikram Chaudhry has appealed to the chief justice to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the provincial governments and declare the 15-day relaxation period against the provisions of Constitution that guaranteed fundamental rights and the right to live.