Think of it as part of the Sunday fluff series:
Pakistani Beauty Pagent
Taking the AmeriKan MSM to School in Pakistan
Yup, agenda-pushing for YUPPIES.
And what do you mean I can not?
"Popular kite festival is grounded in Pakistan; Authorities cite safety, but others blame ideology" by Nicolas Brulliard, Washington Post | March 28, 2010
LAHORE, Pakistan — Officials in this leafy cultural capital are struggling to contain a wave of terror attacks. But with the arrival of spring, they have at least eradicated one part of life they deem perilous: kites.
This is the time of year when rooftop terraces normally are filled with people sending thousands of vibrant kites into the sky to welcome the season. But an unpopular new ban — zealously enforced through the arrests of scores of kite enthusiasts — has all but killed the centuries-old festival, called Basant.
Yup, terrorists took down Pakistan's kites.
And that has made kite-flying the latest casualty in Pakistan’s struggle to balance sometimes-eccentric customs with rising religious conservatism.
How do you like that Zionist insult from an AmeriKan paper?
Local officials, who restricted kite-flying to a maximum of two weeks a year before banning it entirely, say it is about safety. The razor-sharp strings on some kites have become public hazards.
But critics say the ban is also a convenient way for Lahore’s Islamic clerics and like-minded political leaders to do away with the parties, drinking, and dancing associated with Basant. “It is a step to prevent liberalism to go forward — and this is a very dangerous thing,’’ said Yusuf Sali, a former politician who helped develop Basant into an international tourist draw. “It is these festivals that fight extremism.’’
Oh, DRUNKEN REVELRY is LIBERATION, yup!
Related: The Horror of Lahore
Yeah, that's the place.
Basant offered a sense of normalcy, its backers say. Kite fliers would get cheers from friends and guests as they cut a rival’s string through deft maneuvers. Others indulged in pleasures frowned upon by clerics. This year, though, the owners of paper-and-bamboo kites risk jail sentences for simply possessing them.
And you see who is to blame for killing all the fun, 'eh?
Proponents say Basant has been an economic boon. Over the years, extra flights and trains would be routed to Lahore to bring in thousands of tourists, hotels jacked up their prices, locals rented out their rooftops, and rickshaw drivers and street vendors did record business.
No, don't take a rickshaw.
But in recent years, officials say, the celebration turned dangerous.
Metal strings laced with chemicals and coated with shards of glass began replacing cotton thread. The new, pricier strings allowed less adroit kite-fliers to reign supreme over Lahore’s skies, but they also proved a threat to bystanders and motorcyclists, who risked being slashed by a discarded kite string.
This is in-between the missiles flying all over the place, right?
Authorities said those hazards, along with occasional falls from rooftops and electrocutions from metal strings touching live power lines, made government regulation necessary.
Between 2006 and 2009, 18 people died and 24 were injured in kite-related incidents, according to a government report. So this year, the government banned the festival altogether — and even jailed the secretary of the local kite-flying association when he filed an official request to suspend the ban.
Gee, and here the ARTICLE MADE ME THINK it was ISLAMIST CLERICS!!!
Some government officials have suggested there is more to the ban than safety. Sajjad Bhutta, a top Lahore district officer, has said that Basant involves immoral drinking and parties that cannot be tolerated in a Muslim society.
Party poopers!
--more--"
Related: European Vacation: Back Home Again
Well, maybe not.
You know, I have noticed that such "revelry" RARELY APPEARS in MUSLIM CULTURE!
