Daily Times

LAHORE: The Safe Kite Flying Association of Punjab (SKFAP) has demanded that the provincial government should take immediate action by running a campaign and devising a policy to install antennas on motorbikes, as this was the only way to ensure citizen safety and, thus, safe kite flying.

The association has also criticised the government for its wrong approach towards the issue of fatal throat cuts by kite strings. It said that it had been almost 10 years now, since the ban on Basant and year-round kite flying, and still there has been no end to accidental deaths from throat cuts by kite strings.

“Why is it that even though the police states that they have arrested 1,380 offenders in the last three months, the safety of citizens riding motorcycles has not improved?” members of the association said at a protest held recently. “This is because the policy of Punjab government, which is limited to coercion, has failed. It was bound to fail in a city of 12 million people with an 800-year-old tradition of kite flying.”

In the wake of the recent death of a minor in Lahore, a number of youngsters from different cities of Punjab under the banner of SKFAP have gathered in front of Lahore Press Club and staged protests by showing solidarity with the victim families and to show a way to the Punjab government to proceed towards citizen safety.

At these protests, they held placards and banners inscribed with different slogans against the government. They said that Punjab government should to take their responsibility towards the safety of citizens seriously.

The youngsters also carried out a motorbike rally for raising awareness among the public about this issue and to encourage motorcycle riders to fix an antenna on their bikes, besides calling upon kite flying enthusiasts to avoid using thick strings for the activity. The rally started from Lahore Press Club and ended on Jail Road.

The protestors also burnt spools of thick string held responsible for deaths of pedestrians and motorcyclists in road accidents. They extend their support to the government to ensure that such string was not used in the activity. Adil Shirazi, a leader of the association, said that it only costed Rs200 to install an antenna on the motorcycle, which could ensure the safety of riders. He said that the basic message of their protest was that it was the responsibility of the government to provide safety and security to the citizens. “Cheap and scalable safety measures are available to ensure citizen safety on motorbikes which constitutes all injuries and deaths.” He further said that by purely concentrating on coercive measures, rather than taking any safety measures, the CM has failed in his responsibility to provide citizen security, and is thus responsible for every death related o kite string in the city.

Published in Daily Times, March 19^th 2018.