‘Concrete steps being taken to curb kite-flying’

LAHORE : Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore, Additional IG Ghulam Mahmood Dogar has said that kite flying is a life-threatening activity and Lahore Police have been taking concrete measures to curb this menace.

Lahore Police have already sent recommendations to the government with its proposed amendments to the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying Act 2001 to eradicate the dangerous activity of kite fly under the new legal framework. The CCPO Lahore said police proposed strict punishments and huge fines for the violators of Kite Flying Act. CCPO Lahore Ghulam Mahmood Dogar said this during a press conference held on Saturday at Akbari Mandi police station. City Division SP Tariq Rizwan, Naulakha Circle SDPO Mian Qadeer and other police officers were also present on the occasion.

CCPO said Lahore police during their biggest action of the year against violation of Kite Flying Act arrested an accused, M Yaseen, a resident of Narowal, involved in sale of kites and string.

The accused used to purchase kites and strings from Peshawar. He used to store them in a godown in the Walled City area and sell them in Lahore as well as other districts. Police during an information-based action raided the godown located in Mohalla Shiyaan and recovered as many as 50,000 kites and strings of different kinds.

Police are conducting raids to arrest another accused, Ali Imran, a resident of Gulberg, involved in this heinous crime.

Dogar informed reporters that Lahore police arrested as many as 10,211 accused of violation of Kite Flying Act this year till now and registered 10,112 cases in different police stations against them. During this year, police also recovered more than 100,000 kites and string as well as raw material used in manufacturing of kites and string.

The CCPO Lahore said the comprehensive recommendations sent by Lahore Police to the government to curb this crime were based on wide range of administrative, judicial and legal measures. According to the proposals, different government institutions should be incorporated to disrupt the supply chain of kites, sharp twines and manufacturing of related banned items to eliminate this crime permanently. Dogar said it had been proposed that the Cybercrime Wing of FIA should have the mandate for action against online Facebook pages and websites involved in promoting the organised crime of online sale of kites, twine and other related items. It has been suggested that federal departments be approached to ban the import of nylon chords and other metal wires being used to manufacture twines.

Dogar said that this initiative of Lahore Police would greatly help save precious human lives. The CCPO has directed police officers to take strict action against kite manufacturers, sellers as well as kite flyers. He has also appealed to the citizens to stop their children from engaging in the life-threatening activity of kite flying.