Basant by

Ally Adnan

There are three fundamental facts about Basant that cannot and should never be denied.

One, Basant is a festival that is neither religious, nor national, and is not associated with any one religion

or country. Two, Basant is a festival that can be celebrated safely without any injuries and casualties, with

proper governance and oversight. Three, Basant can only be celebrated properly in the city of Lahore.

Sultan Ul Mashaikh, Mehboob-e-Ilahi, Hazrat Shaikh Khawaja Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya (1238

- 1325), one of the greatest Sufi saint of the Chishti silsila (Sufi order) in the South Asia, did not have any

children of his own, and considered his sister’s son, Khawaja Taqiuddin Nooh, to be his own. His young

nephew was the focus of all of Hazrat Nizamuddin’s paternal feelings. While in his early teens, the young

boy succumbed to an unknown illness, leaving Hazrat Nizamuddin profoundly sad and in deep depression.

The Sufi saint withdrew himself from all affairs of life, stopped meeting his disciples, and started spending

all his time alone either at the grave of his nephew, or in his Chilla Sharif (meditation quarters). Hazrat

Nizamuddin’s followers were deeply troubled by their teacher’s state; they tried hard to bring him out of

the state of utter gloom but were unsuccessful. His principal and highly favored disciple, Hazrat Amir

Khusro, tried to cheer him up through humor, reason, diversion and pleading, but did not succeed.

One day, Amir Khusro saw a group of young ladies dressed in yellow saris and ghaagra cholis (blouse and

long skirt), carrying garlands of gainda phool (marigold), singing songs while playing the dhol (drums),

walking on a road by Hazrat Nizamuddin’s Chilla Sharif. He was intrigued and asked the ladies where they

were headed. They replied that, after a period of fasting, they had dressed up for their deity and were

heading to the temple to sing, dance and offer garlands in order to make their deity happy. The idea

appealed to Amir Khusro who decided to do the same to make his own master happy. He dressed up as a

woman in a yellow ghaagra choli, covered his head with a yellow and white striped chunni (large scarf),

and headed to the Chilla Sharif along with hundreds of other disciples and devotees, who played dhols,

danced and sang a poem Amir Khusro composed for the occasion.

انگآج تنسب انمےل ، سہ

آج تنسب انمےل

انجن نجنم رک ایپ ومرے

ےبمل رہین اگلےئ

وت ایک وسوے دنین یک امری

انگوس اجےگ ریتے اھبگ، سہ

آج تنسب انمےل

ون

ت

اویچن انر ےک اوےچن چ

اوسی دوی ےہ انبےئ

وک

ن

ھی ک

اشہ اریم وتےہ د

انگ ونینں ےس انین المےئ، سہ

آج تنسب انمےل

Celebrate basant today, beautiful bride

Celebrate basant today

Apply your make-up

Comb your long hair

Why do you sleep, sleepy one?

Wake up, beautiful bride, so your fortunes rise

Celebrate basant today

A beautiful lady with beautiful looks

That is who you are

King Amir is here to see you

Let your eyes meet his

Celebrate basant today

Hazrat Nizamuddin watched the song and dance without emotion but started smiling when Amir Khusro

removed his chunni at the end of the revelry to reveal his identity. The saint was out of his depression and

the annual celebration of the basant festival, with the song, dance, dress and other rituals practiced on

that day, was established as a festival in Delhi. The word basant means the spring season and had,

heretofore, been used to describe festivals celebrating the arrival of spring. The festival that was started

by Amir Khusro was a celebration of reward and happiness after a period of sorrow and sacrifice. No other

significance was attached to basant.

There are a few, mostly weak and historically suspect accounts that portray the festival, incorrectly, as a

Hindu celebration that is against Islam. Indeed a very large number of essays, newspaper articles and

books have been written propagating the patently false belief, declaring the celebration of Basant an act

of blasphemy and equating it with kufr (apostasy).

The story of Haqiqat Rai Baghmal Puri, often told, both in India and in Pakistan, in the context of basant,

has long been used to perpetuate hateful myths related to the festival. The truth is rather simple and

unremarkable. Haqiqat Rai was the only son of a Khatri (a mostly Hindu and Sikh caste) in Sialkot, Punjab,

in the first half of the eighteenth century. One day, a few of his schoolmates made fun of his religion and

the young man retorted by making disrespectful statements about the daughter Fatimah of the Prophet

Muhammad (peace be upon him). The young man was tried in the court of the local qazi (Muslim judge)

who decided that, while it was alright to make fun of Hinduism, a response to the provocation constituted

blasphemy. The boy was sentenced to death and the sentence was carried out, incidentally, on the day of

the Basant festival in Lahore. A tomb was built in memory of the Hindu boy and people, mostly Hindu and

Sikh, started gathering at the place each year to commemorate his death. It was not for about another

hundred and fifty years that a connection was proposed between Basant and the annual commemoration

of Haqiqat Rai’s death. At the start of the twentieth century, three Bengali writers, in their flawed and

mutually contradictory accounts, put forward the thesis that the Basant festival celebrated the sacrifice

of Haqiqat Rai, who chose to die instead of converting to Islam, when given the choice. The works did not

mention the fact that the festival had, in fact, been celebrated for more than two hundred years before

Haqiqat Rai, and numerous references to the effect existed in history, poetry, literature and paintings.

The celebration of basant in Lahore predated the birth of the Hindu boy by a few centuries. The fact that

he was beheaded on the day of the festival did not constitute a link between his fate and the festival. In

2004, Pakistani newspaper Nawa E Waqt proposed the theory that Basant was in fact a celebration of

blasphemy committed by Haqiqat Rai. This notion quickly gained favor with the religious clerics and

armchair historians in Pakistan. A slew of more than a dozen books were published between 2004 and

2010 condemning Basant as a festival celebrating insults against the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon

him) and his family. None of the books mentioned the Sufi origins of the decidedly secular festival.

Another equally flawed thesis, associates Basant with Sikhs. The theory was started after the publication

of the travel memoirs of Charles von Hügel, Kaschmir und das Reich der Siek (Kashmir and the Realm of

the Sikh). The Austrian noble and explorer had traveled to the Indian subcontinent in the period between

1831 and 1836, and met, among many others, with the Sikh ruler of Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In his

memoirs, he describes the celebration of Basant in Lahore during the reign of the Maharaja, in great and

elaborate detail. His writings were used as the basis to designate Basant as a festival of the Sikhs.

A few writers have chosen to blend the stories of the Hindu and Sikh nature of Basant in their works as

well. In certain books, Haqiqat Rai is said to be a Sikh who was beheaded as a punishment for blasphemy,

and in whose memory Maharaja Ranjit Singh established the festival of Basant. A few books claim that

Haqiqat Rai was married to Durgi, the daughter of Sikh called Kishan Singh Bhutta and, for that reason,

both Hindus and Sikhs started celebrating Basant during Ranjit Singh’s rule. The young man was in fact

unmarried at the time of his beheading. These irresponsible accounts, with non-coincident timelines,

tenuous bases and from unreliable sources, were apparently written without worrying about what the

writers must have considered to be the vagaries of truth and historical accuracy.

One reason for associating Basant with Hinduism is the confusion caused by the similarly named Vasant

Panchami festival. The former is a secular festival that celebrates the tradition started by Amir Khusro

whereas the other is a Hindu and Sikh religious festival associated primarily with the worship of the

goddess Saraswati and occasionally with the Hindu god, Kamadev, his wife Rati and his friend Vasant. The

two festivals, both celebrated at the onset of spring, albeit with similar names, are distinct and not related

to each other.

Basant is, sometimes, confused with Jashn E Baharan, another secular festival that celebrates the arrival

of spring and predates basant by about two hundred years. The two festivals have Sufi origins but both

have largely different rites and rituals. They are celebrated simultaneously but are not related to each

other.

The issue of public safety during the celebration of basant has been discussed in Pakistan extensively

during the last twenty years. The festival which had been celebrated safely for seven centuries in Lahore,

and more than eight centuries elsewhere, became dangerous all of a sudden towards the end of the

twentieth century. Local governments spoke about the perils of the celebration at all occasions, and in

multiple forums, associating death, disease and injury, and not much else, with the festival. Other crimes

did not seem to merit the kind of exaggerated attention given to basant. This issue, along with the equally

vacuous argument of basant being and anti-Islam Hindu-Sikh festival, has been used by the government

of Pakistan to ban the festival in Lahore. The festival has not been celebrated in the city since the years

now.

The issues and concerns raised by the police and local government seem to be reasonable and

unmanageable. In reality, they are anything but.

1. Dangerous Twine

Certain vendors prepare dangerously sharp twine to fly kites, using both metal and glass clippings.

This can cause serious injury, especially to motorcycle and bicycle riders.

2. Aerial Firing

Aerial firing carried out during the celebrations, mostly using unlicensed arms, results in

casualties.

3. Power Issues

The demand for electricity during the night of basant cannot be met with and can overload the

system, triggering an energy crisis.

4. Accidents

Children are prone to accidents while flying kites on rooftops and running to grab falling kites on

streets.

The concerns, while valid, are easily addressed with very little effort and proper governance. Kite flying

associations and enthusiasts have long advocated simple measures that will eliminate purported dangers

and make the sport of kite flying as safe, and probably safer, than, say, playing cricket. The measures that

have been suggested are easy to implement and include:

1. An Enforced Ban on Dangerous Twine

2. A Moratorium on Bike Riding for a Twenty-Four Hour Period

3. Designation of Safe Areas for Kite Flying

4. Ban on Aerial Firing

5. Public Awareness Campaigns

6. Mobile Generators & Load Balancing

The fact that capable local bodies and competent law enforcement agencies can easily take the afore-

mentioned measures is never admitted. The idea of using proper governance to manage the festival of

basant is considered to be as dangerous as the festival itself. Each year, the All Pakistan Kite Flying

Association, the District Kite Flying Association Lahore, and numerous other organizations file appeals to

lift the ban on flying kites; each year, they are disappointed by an inept, unresponsive, incompetent and,

most of all, indifferent government.

Basant has been a part of India and Pakistan’s cultural fabric for more than eight centuries. The rites and

rituals of basant have evolved during the last eight centuries. The most significant addition to the

ceremonies has been the flying of kites which is now an intrinsic and arguably to most important part of

celebrating basant. Lahore has over the period of time become the one city that celebrates the festival

with an enthusiasm and spirit that is not seen anywhere else. It is also the city which has contributed most

to the growth and development of the festival.

The kite was invented in China in 5th century BC. Buddhist missionaries from China started the spread of

kites first in Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Burma and subsequently throughout the world. Each

country developed its own style of kite. The style that evolved in India is known as the fighter kite, or the

patang (generic name for fighter kite), which competing kite flyers, known as patang baaz, to engage in

duels of kites in the air. The aim was to bring down each other’s kites by cutting the twine, or dor, used to

fly the kites. The tradition of flying of kites as a competitive sport, known as patang baazi, was established

in Lahore and continues to be practiced with the requisite seriousness only in the city.

The tradition of flying kites was started by the Mughals after the victory of Emperor Babar over Ibrahim

Lodhi. Kite flying started as a pastime time of royalty, who were familiar with the sport due to their Mongol

origins. The nawabs and rajas of India followed the royals and quickly became skilled in the art of flying

kites. As the manufacture of kites became common in India, the entire nation became fond of flying kites;

by the end of the sixteenth century, kite flying had gained immense popularity all over the region. It is in

the sixteenth century that the first references to flying kites on the basant festival are found in literature,

poetry and drawings. Patang baazi became the single most important part of celebrating basant in

sixteenth century Lahore and continues to be an integral feature of the festival.

The sport of patang baazi in Lahore is highly competitive and played with a high level of seriousness. In

addition to skill, the sport requires a peculiar maturity of temperament and a large amount of patience.

It takes several years for a patang baaz to master the art of flying kites ad a few more to be recognized as

a true khilaari (player).

The gear used for patang baazi is simple and mostly handmade. It consists of patang, dor, tandi (dor with

knots towards the flying edge) and daang (staff).

Lahori Kites are made of guddi kaaghaz (tissue paper) and finely shaved sticks of dried bamboo. The vast

majority of the kites are diamond shaped. The tissue paper is used for the sail and tail and the bamboo

sticks for the spine and bow. A thread is run through the perimeter of the kite for reinforcement. Kites

sold in Lahore have historically been made all over Punjab but the shops are concentrated in and around

Mochi gate. The province is home to an estimated three hundred and fifty thousand kite makers.

The variety of kites sold in Lahore is staggering. Bava, Chag, Derh Kani,Do Akhal, Doli, Fighter Gudda,

Gudda, Guddi, Ik Akhal, Koop, Laipo, Lucknow Kat, Machar, Pari, Pharphara, Rocket, Sharla, Tatoo, and

Tukkal are a few of the kites sold in Lahore. Almost all of these kites fall under the category of fighter-kites

and are differentiated by subtle differences in shape, size, proportions and structure. The most popular

kites in Lahore are the Sharla, Derh Kani, Guddi, Gudda, Fighter Gudda, and Tukkal.

The standard unit for measuring the size of kites is the tawa. The lateral distance between opposite

corners is used to classify kites by size as pauna (three fourth), aik (one), sava (one and a quarter) and

derh (one and a half) tawa. Kites with more complicated shapes, such as the double-bowed tukkal, are

measured in gitths. A gitth is the distance between the tips of the thumb and the little finger of a hand

with fingers stretched out fully. Smaller kites such as the sharla and pari are typically measured in inches.

Larger sized kites require greater skill to fly. Younger kids and novice kite flyers start by flying the sharla

and pari and move on to larger sized kites as their skill level increases.

The height to width ratio for most diamond shaped kites from Lahore is typically 1:1.2. In the case of the

narrower guddi, the ratio is reversed to 1.2:1. The derh kani is wider and has a height to width ratio of

1:1.5, which makes it more appropriate for flying at lower altitudes. The tukkal has a more complex shape

with two bows and is a prettier and more difficult to fly kite.

The twine used to fly kites is known as dor. It comes in four varieties: Saadaa, Maanjhaa, Taar and Steel.

Saadaa is made of pure cotton. Maanjhaa is named after the paste that coats the cotton thread used in

its manufacture. Taar is metallic twine. Steel dor is single-strand stainless steel fishing line which can cut

through other lines without any damage to itself. Saadaa is used by children and novices. Taar and Steel

are not considered legitimate because they give an unfair advantage to flyers and because they have the

potential of causing serious injury. Maanjhaa is the most popular dor in Lahore.

The thread of a maanjhaa, known as goat, is made up of multiple strands of cotton. The six-strand – tees

number (number 30) – is the most commonly used dor. Thicker varieties, such as the ten-strand – das

number (number 10) – are used for flying kites in strong winds. The thread is coated with the maanjhaa

paste. The constituents of the maanjhaa and, the ratio is which they are mixed, are jealously guarded

secrets, passed from father to son in families of maanjhaa makers. The ingredients of the paste include

finely ground tube light glass, flour, boiled rice, color, and binding agents. Serious kite flyers do not use

commercially available maanjhaa but have the paste applied to goat in their presence by expert maanjhaa

makers who have traditionally worked in Minto Park and near Mochi Gate in Lahore. Dor is wound on in

balls, known as pinnahs, or on spools, known as charkhis. This has to be done with great skill and finesse

to ensure a smooth and steady flow of dor. A pinnah typically lies on the floor while the patang baaz flies

the kite. The charkhi is held by a person assisting the kite flyer.

A kite is joined to the dor using a loop of the dor known as the bridle. The sail of a kite is punctured with

a matchstick typically around the crossing of the bow and the spine in order to attach the bridle. The

puncturing process is known as taran and is key to the proper aerodynamic properties of the kite. The kite

is ready to be launched once it has been tied to the dor.

The game begins when more than one kite flyers have their kites in the air. The goal is to bring the kite of

the opponent by first entrapping it and then cutting the dor. The kite is entrapped by approaching it from

the top, bottom or sides and crossing one’s own dor with that of the opponent. The battle of dors and

kites that ensues is known as paicha and the process is known as paicha larana. This is something that is

done unhurriedly. The practice of cutting an opponent’s dor with a sudden and hurried jerk, known as the

qaincha, is frowned upon and considered unacceptable in Lahore. A protracted and leisurely paicha is

savored and appreciated by kite flyers and initiated observers. A quick win is not really a win.

Various techniques are used to cut the dor of the opponent and success is achieved when the opponent’s

dor is cut and the kite starts to fall towards the ground. Victory is celebrated by loud cries of bow kaataa

which is a corruption of woh kata (there, we cut it). The falling kite, known as the kati patang, no longer

belongs to its owner or to anyone else. It becomes the property of the kite runner who is able to steal it

using a tandi or a daang.

The tandi is a thick dor which has thread knots, matchsticks, or metal clips attached to its final fifteen feet.

It is used to fly a small kite with the aim of stealing larger kites that have been cut and are in descent. The

practice is known as chamorna and involves in skillfully tangling the tandi with the dor of the falling kite

and bringing it back to one’s self. The Lucknow Kaat is used most often for chamorna, an art form as

complex as that of flying kites competitively. A huge market has always existed for kites stolen through

chamorna.

The daang (staff) is the fourth item associated with basant. Falling kites that escape experts of chamorna,

are stolen by people using daangs which are usually bamboo poles with twigs attached to their far ends.

Dried bougainvillea shrubs are considered the most suitable for this purpose; they are strong enough to

engage a falling kite but pliable enough not to damage its face. The looting of the kati patang, known as

patang lootna, often practiced by kids and the poor who cannot afford to buy their own, is as much of a

sport as patang baazi and chamorna.

Basant came to Lahore at the start of the fifteenth century and was firmly established as an annual festival

during the reign of Emperor Akbar who lived in the city from 1584 to 1598. The people of Lahore have,

over the centuries, added to the rituals, rites and ceremonies of the festival, making basant an elaborate

celebration with a unique Lahori identity.

Basant is celebrated all over Lahore but the real festival is associated with the walled city, also known as

purana Lahore (old Lahore) and andaroon sheher (interior city). This is a section in the northwestern part

of the city which was fortified with a wall during the reign of the Mughals. The wall was made of red bricks

and thirty feet high. A rampart ran through the wall to protect the city from invaders. A circular road

around the rampart gave access to the city through thirteen gates. The impressive structures of a few of

these gates exist even today. The gates were named:

Akbari Gate

Bhaati Gate

Delhi Gate

Kashmiri Gate

Lohari Gate

Masti Gate

Mochi Gate

Mori Gate

Roshnai Gate

Shah Alam Gate

Sheraanwala Gate

Taxali Gate

Yakki Gate

The focal point of the celebration of basant in Lahore is inside the walled city. It is here that basant is

celebrated with a passion and enthusiasm, bordering on fanaticism. The old city’s basant has historically

allowed a fair and equal participation of the rich and the poor, the old and the young, and the advantaged

and the underprivileged. When communal and religious conflicts have threatened the secular nature of

the festival, it has been the celebration of basant that has brought people together.

During its long history, basant has been used by rulers, clerics, politicians and many others, among other

things, to create unfortunate religious and cultural divides. Indeed, there have been periods of time when

basant has been celebrated by Muslims at the shrine of Madhoo Laal Hussain, Sikhs at the Gurdwara Bhai

Banno Ji Mangat and Hindus at the tomb of Haqiqat Rai. The artificial division of the celebration,

thankfully, has always been short-lived and people have united during the basant festivities of the inner

city. Lahori basant has historically been the only truly secular festival of Pakistan. Banned by inept

governments, to please religious extremists, a corrupt police department and bigoted nationalists, the

festival remains vividly alive in literature, poetry, art and, of course, the city’s collective memory. A part

of Lahore’s cultural history, the traditional celebrations of basant have been established, and clearly

delineated, for centuries. They cannot be banned for long.

The color basanti is the yellow color of the gainda phool. The color represents the rewards that come

after sacrifice, loss and abstinence. Brides wear yellow on mehndi celebrations before their weddings in

anticipation of the reward of a happy married life that comes after giving up the comforts of their parents’

homes. The yellow marigold flowers represent the rewards of spring that comes after the dreary winter.

Basanti yellow celebrates indulgence that is allowed after periods of austerity and deprivation. It is a

festival that permits one to act with crazy abandon, without worrying about the consequences and costs

of celebration. It is the color of pure, unadulterated happiness.

Preparations for basant start several weeks before the festival. A lot of thought and effort goes into

selecting the clothes that women wear on the festival. The styles and designs can vary but basanti yellow

has to be featured in clothing. Boutiques and designers bring out special basant lines of clothes celebrating

the arrival of basant.

The traditional fabric of basant is yellow and white lahriya (striped) silk and cotton. It has been worn by

women, as chunni, and by men, as pagri (turban), on basant, since the fourteenth century. The fabric is

prepared by rolling the fabric diagonally, tightly tying threads at fixed intervals around the rolled fabric,

and hand dying the cloth to create stripes and other patterns. The traditional dye used for basanti fabrics

is prepared using saffron. Men typically wear oversized white cotton kurtas (tunics) and shalwars (loose

pants) on basant in Lahore. The more fashionable sport a basanti dupatta (long scarf) around their necks.

Food has always been the most important part of festivals and events held in Lahore. Basant is no

different. The preparations for basant include getting ready to cook for large parties of people celebrating

the festival. A drink known as thandiaai, often spiked with bhang (cannabis), is very popular during basant.

Lassi (yoghurt drink) and hot Kashmiri chaye (pink tea) are consumed abundantly as well. Haleem and

barbecued red meat is the food of basant. Haleem is popular all over Pakistan but the variety prepared in

the old city is decidedly superior and different. Cooks from outside the area find it hard to replicate it

flavor, texture and aroma. The secret of the recipe, guarded for years, is now known by a few in Lahore.

In order the cook haleem properly, one needs to prepare the stock using chicken necks, goat trotters and

marrow bones along with the regular variety of bones from the cow. The bones need to be roasted before

they can be used for stock. Three types – chicken, mutton and beef – of boneless meat needs be used to

prepare haleem. And the dish needs to be cooked slowly for about eight hours to achieve proper

consistency. The tarka (hot oil flavor enhancer) needs to be done with garlic and oil in the serving dish

after the addition of a little lemon juice. Crisp fried onions, slivers of ginger, chopped cilantro leaves,

garam masaala (mixture of spices) should be used to garnish haleem before serving. Barbecued meat is a

favorite at basant. Lahoris love red meat and do not like spices that drown the taste of meat. Marinades

are, therefore, simple. Good tikkas require the best quality of meat and a great deal of patience while

being barbecued. The sooji ka halwa (semolina dessert) prepared for basant in the walled city is prepared

with coarsely ground sooji (semolina) and has more sugar and less water than the regular variety made at

other times. The resulting texture and consistency allows for eating using hands and no utensils.

The festivties of basant begin after maghrib (evening prayer) the day before the festival. The start of

celebration is announced with the sounds of dhols and loud music. The area around badshahi masjid and

taxali gate is known for fireworks and dancing in the streets to mark the commencement of basant

celebrations. The kites flown in the evening and through the night are usually of smaller sizes and white

in color. They are flown at low altitudes to allow for visibility. Search lights are used in various parts of the

city to increase visibility but the practice is for novices. Serious kite flyers do not fly kites at night and save

their energy for the day of basant, spending the night preparing for the big day. Parties and gatherings of

various sizes are organized all over the walled city on the day of basant. Kite flying starts at the crack of

dawn with the sound of whistles and continues throughout the day.

The twentieth century has seen a tremendous evolution in the celebration of events. The biggest one is

the inclusion of females, who are no longer relegated to cooking for men at the event but actively

participate in the festivities. In addition to dressing up in yellow, women organize elaborate basant parties

and fly kites side by side with men. Another development – a sad one – is the practice of aerial firing using

the ubiquitous Russian Kalashnikov and other rifles to celebrate victories during patang bazi. Popular and

film music has also become an important part of basant festivities. Bands are booked for parties

throughout the city. Those who cannot afford live music, uses boomboxes to add music to their

celebration.

The sport of kite flying allows pleasure at three separate and distinct levels – patang baazi, chamorna and

lootna. The khilaris (expert flyers) enjoying duels with the kites of other equally skilled players. Younger,

and often less affluent, basant lovers enjoying chamorna and the trade of looted kites. Kids catching falling

kites that have escaped tandis to land in their hands with the aid of daangs. This is one festival that allows

everyone a fair opportunity to participate in fun and merriment. It is certainly the one time that the poor

and the disadvantaged have as much, and often more, fun than the rich and the privileged. The trappings

of affluence are out of the reach of the average Lahori, but he can still afford patang, dor, tandi and dang,

and enjoy himself at basant without having to worry about the cost of celebration, his image, the

impression he makes on others, and how his celebration outdoes that of others. Thank God for that.

، آیئ

ت

اڑتن اپال بس

Basant has arrived, the winter is gone

Basant has not been celebrated in Lahore for years.

The sound of the centuries old adage – Aayi Basant, Pala Urant (ڑتن ، اپال ا

تن

is no longer heard in – (آیئ بس

Lahore. The chant, full of energy, hope and joy, has been drowned in the criminally irresponsible noise

generated by politicians, clerics and the police. The custodians of national pride, moral standing and public

security, having taken care of all other ills that have plagued the country, are now resolute in their united

stand against the celebration of basant. The festival, they claim, will hurt national security, compromise

patriotism, damage Pakistan’s identity, invoke the wrath of God, condemn all participants to hell, result

in mass casualties, and result in irrepressible mayhem. The tragedy associated with basant will be one of

biblical proportions.

The situation would be funny were it not so sad.

Chaudhry Pervez Elahi issued the edict to ban the celebration of basant in Lahore in the year 2005. His

hasty action came as a result of political pressure to cash in on the death of a young boy allegedly caused

by razor sharp dor and to please the police and religious extremists. The Prohibition of Kite Flying

Ordinance was promulgated in 2006. The Sharif brothers, raised in Lahore and its environs and known for

their love for Lahori food and gluttony, displayed a curious antipathy towards basant, a festival in which

food plays an important part. The ordinance was re-promulgated in 2007 and the Punjab Assembly passed

the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying (Amendment) Act which banned flying, manufacturing, selling and

trading in kites and associated paraphernalia. In 2009, the Governer of Punjab, Salman Taseer, briefly

lifted the ban on basant. In an interview, Taseer said that basant was an important part of the culture of

Punjab and should be celebrated as a big cultural event. He vowed to celebrate the festival himself and

open the gates of the Governor House to the general public who wished to join him in the festivities. His

interview ignited severe condemnation, and Taseer was warned that he would be arrested and the

Governor House besieged if he went ahead with his plans of celebrating basant.

2009 was the last year in which the festival was celebrated in Lahore. The PML-N-led local government

reinstated the ban in 2010. The prohibition on one of the last remaining avenues for having fun for Lahoris

has been in place since that time. In 2013, the caretaker chief minister tried, unsuccessfully, to restore

basant celebrations. In 2014, the government decided to move the festivities out of the walled city to the

denuded forests of Changa Manga. This would have been act of heresy akin to taking the Carnaval out of

Rio de Janeiro, Oktoberfest out of Munich and Songkran out of Thailand. The celebration was cancelled at

the last minute.

The kite flying associations of Lahore continue to protest the ban – simultaneously an act of bravery and

an exercise in futility – year after year. Applications to lift ban for a few days are filed each year with great

regularity and denied with an equal amount of consistency. As in previous years, the District Kite Flying

Association Lahore has filed an application this year to get permission to celebrate basant. If the DCO’s

office grants permission, Lahoris will celebrate basant on March 7 and 8, 2015.

Depriving us from celebrating basant is tantamount to depriving us of our fundamental rights.

Salman Taseer

Pakistani politicians have made a career out of selling the fear of India, paranoia of American designs

against Pakistan and the evil plans of many other nations against the country. The idea that super powers

have nothing better to do than engage in making petty plots to hurt Pakistan and Pakistanis is as

preposterous as it is bogus. The truth is that the ban on basant has nothing to do with national security

and identity. It is the result of politicians buckling under pressure from right-wing Islamic groups. These

groups claim, incorrectly, that the festival promotes un-Islamic practices and guarantees eternal

damnation for celebrating Muslims. The right-wing political party, Jamaat E Islami, and the political arm

of the militant group Lashkar E Taiyyaba, Jamaat Ud Dawah, are amongst the most vociferous opponents

of the festival. No one seems to have the courage to question their beliefs and engage them in intelligent

debate. They continue to enjoy what seems to be unlimited air time. Islamic clerics, with their fear

mongering and myopic rhetoric, paint God as a humorless, vindictive and cruel deity, who takes exception

with innocent celebrations. Their God is neither Rehman (beneficent) nor Raheem (merciful).

The case against basant made by the police is not just a tacit admission of incompetence but a thinly veiled

measure to make money through bribes, kickbacks and payoffs. The number of policemen assigned each

year to enforce the ban is significantly more than would be needed to oversee a peaceful celebration of

basant. The ban, however, opens the doors to bribery, a rich source of money for Punjab’s notoriously

corrupt police. Lahoris continue to, and will always, defy the ban in small ways, lining the pockets of the

police in the process. This, and nothing else, is the reason for the police’s opposition of the festival. After

Eid Al Fitr (Muslim Religious Festival) and Eid Al Azha (Muslim Religious Festival), basant is the third most

lucrative time of the year for policeman accepting bribes. They will do any and everything to keep the ban

in place.

The many benefits of celebrating the basant festival are lost on politicians, clerics and the police. The

festival used to bring more than a quarter million tourists to Pakistan each year. Airlines had to operate

additional flights, and the railways run extra trains, to meet the demand created by people traveling to

Lahore for basant. Hotels used to host basant celebrations and organize basant packages for visitors.

Restaurants and caterers used to experience a spike in revenues during the week of basant. Boutiques

and designers used to launch new clothes. Stores and shops did more business in the one week than in

the rest of the month during basant. The cost of ban on Lahore, and consequently Pakistan’s economy,

has been tremendous. The image of the country has taken huge hits and come to be associated with

intolerance, extremism, paranoia and hate instead of the secular, inclusive, magnanimous and tolerant

face the country was supposed to have when it came into being. Basant used to generate between seven

and eight billion rupees in tourism revenue annually from the year 2000 to 2005. The ban has broken the

back of the country’s weak tourism industry. The entertainment business has suffered innumerable losses

because of the ban as well. The festival used to afford dancers, singers, musicians, and entertainers a

veritable opportunity to make an honest living. This is no longer the case. The ban has also ruined the

livelihood of hundreds of thousands of poor people. Lahore is home to more than one hundred and fifty

thousand kite-makers who have no skills other than kite-making. The city has been unable to provide the

artisans alternative means of earning livelihoods. Forcibly unemployed, they now lead their sad lives in

abject poverty.

No one has gained from the ban but our inept politicians, fanatical clerics, incompetent government

officers, and corrupt police forces. No one.

This is sad and must not be allowed to continue. It has to be changed.

Ally Adnan lives in Dallas where he works in the field of telecommunications. He can be reached at

allyadnan@outlook.com