Basant is an old Indian festival, celebrated to observe the arrival of spring. Lahore celebrates Basant in the biggest, most festive way out of the entire Pakistan. This year Basant has come under clouds of the manmade kind.

Many citizens, social groups and even political parties are opposing the celebration of Basant. Their main concern is the hundreds of deaths caused during this otherwise festive celebration, which rakes in millions of rupees for everyone involved.

Clearly, it's a dilemma for people who want to enjoy Basant, the government which stands to earn from increased tourism to the city, and the thousands of people employed in the kite making industry. Nobody wants people to die at the expense of someone's day of fun. But it's also hard to see Basant disappear from the horizon.

So what is happening and what is the best recourse? Here's our point of view!

Basant was never innocent. In the subcontinent, kite flying isn't like other countries; it is a serious sport, entailing aerial combat between kites. That is where the kite string comes in. The sharper and stronger your kite string, the more your chances of slashing the kite string of your opponent, scoring the rights to the victorious yell of "Bo Kaaata!!!" (The original phrase was probably "Woh Kaata!!")

The kite string of the past was made with glass powder over cotton thread. The strength of the thread and the finesse with which the glass powder was made and applied resulted in different grades of kite string. There were some pretty sharp kite strings available even decades ago. One was known as the "Kaan Kaat Dor" (ear slicing kite string) and diehard kite flyers swore by it for certain triumph in all aerial combat.

With technological advancements like every other industry, the kite making industry has also progressed. From the more subdued version of aerial combat for fun, it now provides a stronger "pro" version of the kite string, which is even more lethal than the Kaan Kaat. The pro version of today is cast from nylon based thread. It is also coated not just with glass powder but variations of metal. Other chemicals are necessary to ensure the metal adheres well to the string. The result is a string which not only has the sharpness to help you win your combats, but it poses other kinds of dangers as well.

Even many years ago, with far less traffic on the roads, much fewer houses, and also a smaller number of people in the city, Basant always carried some gloom. Unattended children would fall from roof tops, eager young boys chasing a stray kite would get hit by cars, and injuries like a sliced ear or two would most certainly make their way around in the aftermath of Basant.

Now, with Lahore's population racing towards the 10 million mark, no real improvement in zoning laws, and a very high growth in automobile ownership have made the streets of Lahore even more perilous in Basant time.

On top of it, there are other aspects that have made Basant bigger than it was - Basant parties by the rich and famous (or just rich!) carry on from the eve of Basant till late on Basant day. In addition to food and drinks (in a lot of cases including alcohol), money is generously spent on the best, most lethal weapons of aerial kite combat.

In the last few years, Lahore has seen hundreds of deaths - gruesome in nature - with throats being slit by stray kite string, a lot of the fatalities being young children. Also, increasingly, the metal coating on the kite string is causing electric shock hazards for people innocently reaching out to grab a dangling string, without realizing that it carries an electrical charge in excess of 440V.

The most dangerous and sadly unnamed culprits are drunk drivers, who are accountable for several accidents, injuries, and deaths. How many of them exist? We don't know. But the number of Basant night parties with freely flowing alcohol is quite high. And yes, the risk is higher than other times of the year given the number of pedestrians chasing after kites.

Suddenly, the fun and festivity of the season takes a dark, morose turn - when graphic images of young children's dead bodies are featured in news media, and people find out about a friend of a friend dying from a Basant related incident. The amount of these incidents has increased to such a high level that people have now actively started protesting the complete absence of Basant Laws.

The Government of Punjab is the main entity under fire from all factions opposing Basant. Over a dozen deaths in the first few days of March, after the Government lifted a year round ban on kite flying, sparked angry criticism and threats of protests by many political and social factions.

Journalists staged a walkout from the Punjab Assembly protesting the Government's lack of action against Basant, fueled by an accident in which a journalist's throat was slit by stray kite string.

Even Lahoris who were among the major sponsors of the Basant evolution, (e.g. Yousaf Salahuddin, whose Basant parties were a major attraction for people all over town) are subdued this year.

The Government's initial response was silence or rebuke. One politician was quoted as saying "President Musharraf is going to celebrate Basant in Lahore - try and stop him if you can." The statement was later overridden by administration officials who said that the President's tour to Lahore is official in nature and he will not be there to celebrate Basant.

Still, the Spring Festival is on in Lahore. Streets are decorated, parties are in full swing, and people are also flying kites. There is also a general sense of disappointment - the public feels as though its been robbed of the right to have fun.

Maybe Basant won't be as fun this year - but it will hopefully also be safer. However, public oppression never makes for a good long term solution for any government. If Basant is to be celebrated for what it is, there need to be tighter laws around the quality and nature of kite string, zoning laws for where you can and can't fly kites, and very strict enforcement of traffic rules (including the harshest punishment for drunk driving), if Basant is to be preserved for all of its fun, joy, and festivity in the years to come. If the Government of Pakistan really wants to do something, it will take a comprehensive judicial action instead of the usual Laathi Charge approach.