LAHORE: Capital city police have recommended amendments to the Kite Flying Act-2001 and demanded strict legislation to curb kite flying, manufacturing and selling in the city.

Capital City Police Officer Zulfiqar Hameed on Friday wrote a letter to Inspector General of Punjab Police Shoaib Dastagir for strict legislation on the suggestions of DIG Operations Ashfaq Khan to suppress the law-breaking elements involved in kite flying.

The CCPO recommends drastic amendments to the existing Kite Flying Act and requests that strict legislation be enacted to curb kite flying and kite selling. Such people cannot be discouraged due to lesser punishments and this bloody game is increasing day by day.

The letter further requests the IGP that separate punishments should have been proposed for kite manufacturers, sellers and flyers.

The letter also demands that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cyber crime wing takes action against those who promote kite-flying on social media and to take action against those who buy and sell kite-flying equipment on the internet. Social pages promoting digital sale of kites and kite flying should be completely blocked and the federal government should ban nylon threads manufacturing.

CCPO Mr Hameed said around 3,000 cases were registered against kite flyers during last year while as many as 8,721 cases were registered during six months of the current year. He urged the parents to keep their children away from this bloody game while fulfilling their responsibility.

He said all the SHOs were directed to show zero tolerance towards violation of the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying Ordinance, 2001 (as amended in 2009).

“To control this menace which has potential to endanger lives of innocent citizens, Lahore police has formed various squads to immediately take action against kite flying and launch a crackdown,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2020