RAWALPINDI: A young man was injured after being struck by a kite string in Dheri Hassanabad while a 10-year-old boy sustained injuries after a stray bullet hit him in the Racecourse area as kite flying continued on Friday.

Sumair Khan, 10, a resident of Rawal Town, was playing on the rooftop of his house when the stray bullet hit him. The injured was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital by Rescue 1122.

The Racecourse police said the boy had sustained an injury to his leg and was in stable condition. But the police could not trace the offender.

Despite a ban imposed by the provincial government, kite flying and firing into the air continued in the city and cantonment areas.

Javaid Ahmed, 40, a resident of Dheri Hassanabad, was injured after being hit by a kite string.

Mr Ahmed was going home on a motorcycle when he was caught in a kite string. He fell on the road and sustained injuries.

The injured was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital where his condition was stated to be out of danger.

Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has already directed the police to launch crackdown on kite sellers and flyers and register cases against them under the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying Ordinance 2001.

He also directed the police to seal warehouses or any other place storing kites or strings and arrest people caught selling them.

Basant used to be the most popular event in Punjab before the PML-N government imposed a ban on kite flying in 2007 due to loss of several lives across the province.

A spokesman for the police said 115 cases related to kite flying had been registered so far this year while 136 people were arrested and more than 32,000 kites and 503 strings seized.

On the other hand, the kite flying association has announced that Basant would be celebrated on Feb 21 and 22.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2019