54 kite flyers, sellers arrested

Rawalpindi: Rawalpindi district police while conducting raids in different areas managed to arrest 54 kite flyers and sellers and recovered 2,000 kites, kite flying string rolls, 65 sound systems, liquor bottles and other items, said a police spokesman here on Friday.

He informed that Naseerabad police recovered 685 kites and 12 string rolls from 10 accused namely Danish, Mohsin, Moeez, Saqlain, Zarmash, Zohaib, Rafaqat, Pervaiz, Waqas and Yousaf.

Racecourse police in their operation recovered 425 kites, 19 string rolls and sound system from the possession of 13 accused, Haq Nawaz, Yashua, Hasan, Zahid, Mazhar, Saif, Wasif, Hamad, Subhan, Mustafa, Waleed, Raheel and Irtaka.

Airport police arrested 13 kite flyers namely Adnan, Junaid, Zubair, Junaid, Zaryab, Munib, Jalal, Faraz, Sahil, Rehan, Hamza, Jahanzaib and Dawood.

Police also recovered 35 kites, a liquor bottle, and sound system from their possession.

The spokesman informed that Civil Lines Police in their operation rounded up five accused, Attiq, Zeeshan, Khanos, Rehan and Zain with 269 kites with 8 string rolls. Similarly, R. A Bazar police recovered 225 kites and two string rolls from 2 accused, Waseem and Mansoor.

Taxila police seized 290 kites with 8 string rolls and netted 2 accused, Syed Hashim and Bilal while Westridge Police recovered 60 kites with 3 string rolls from the possession of 3 accused namely Hamza, Haseeb and Shahzaib.

He informed that Saddar Wah, Kahuta, Rattaamral, Waris Khan and New Town police conducted raids in their respective jurisdiction and arrested six accused namely Hassan, Waseem, Munib, Haroon, Ahmed and Rehan with 208 kites, 12 kite flying string rolls and other items.

The spokesman said that Rawalpindi district police had devised a plan to foil plans to celebrate the banned festival of Basant and control aerial firing.

More than 1,500 police personnel had been deployed on large rooftops in densely populated areas to check kite flying on Thursday night and Friday, where they were equipped with binoculars as well as other resources to apprehend those violating the law by flying kites.

Drone cameras were also being used to track those involved in aerial firing, he said. The spokesman informed that police had finalised a plan to put a stop to kite flying despite the clear-cut ban on Basant.

“Keeping in mind the need to protect the citizens from any untoward incidents, more than 1,500 police officials were deployed to thwart any plans for Basant and drone operators are being used to monitor kite-flying,” he said.

Police officials have reiterated time and again that flying kites is a potentially dangerous sport that can lead to the loss of life, and those found disregarding its cost to human lives will be prosecuted according to law.

The parents, teachers, scholars and civil society were also taken into confidence to play their role in preventing the celebration of Basant. The Rawalpindi police had also launched an awareness campaign about the hazards of the risky sport with the help of religious scholars, who were asked to make announcements on their respective mosques’ sound systems about the demerits of kite-flying.

The police had finalised arrangements for live monitoring of all densely populated areas, while all Station House Officers (SHOs) had been directed to ensure strict surveillance of kite sellers in their areas.

The police teams were trying to trace and arrest culprits involved in buying and selling killer strings and kites through social media, he said adding, that monitoring of courier services and passenger vehicles coming from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was also being tightened, so that any kites and chemical strings being brought to the city for Basant could be seized.

SSP (Operations) Hafiz Kamran Asghar said that no one would be allowed to violate the ban and strict action in accordance with the law would be taken against kite flyers and sellers.