Drones, Binoculars Being Used To Monitor Kite Flying

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Mar, 2024) Multan police is actively monitoring upper atmosphere in the city of saints with drone cameras and binoculars for the last few days to look for kites with killer strings attached and asking the people to stop playing the dangerous game to plug chances of loss of life of pedestrians or bike riders by razor sharp strings of stray kites.

“It has been decided to take strict action against violators to stop this dangerous play“, CPO Multan Sadiq Ali said in a statement here Monday.

A total of 95 arrests have been made during the last few days with a recovery of around 4500 kites and 108 spools of twine as the police intensified the campaign against kite flyers and sellers. Recently, in Faisalabad, a motorcyclist lost his life due to injuries sustained from a kite string. Asif Ashfque, aged 22, tragically died of excessive blood loss after his throat was slit by a kite string while riding a motorcycle.

Punjab government on the direction of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz decided to enforce the ban on kite flying with full might to prevent chances of loss of life of innocent people.

However, despite the ban, there still exist kite flying enthusiasts and police is there to stop them, police spokesman said.

Personnel carrying binoculars are deployed at different points in the city and once they spot any kite flying, they swiftly convey information to nearby patrolling police squad or Dolphin squad to check the violation and police teams reach the site within no time to rectify the situation. Moreover, drone cameras were also active above the roof tops and upper atmosphere being monitored closely to trigger police action when needed.

Kite flying was the only sport and a loving pastime in Punjab with the commencement of Basant festival in spring season every year. However, things changed for the worse when kite flying enthusiasts started preparing, marketing and using glass-crusted strings and twines to cut strings of other kite flyers and enjoy ‘Bo Kata’ moment. The practice, however, had turned into a life threatening dangerous game and hence it was banned in 2005 and now its an offense punishable by Rs 100,000 fine or three-year imprisonment or both, police spokesman said.

CPO has appealed the parents to forbid their children from kite flying and appealed the people not to allow their roof tops for the dangerous game. He asked people to convey information to 15 police in case of noticing any kite flying activity.