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Friday Photo: Pakistan’s killer kites

RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images A Pakistani man prepares special thread used in kite flying in Karachi, 25 January 2006. The two-day festival of Basant marking the start of spring begin this evening with thousands of revellers perched on rooftops. That was last year. This year’s kite festival promises to be festive now that the provincial government ...

By , a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
605052_basant5.jpg
605052_basant5.jpg

RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images
A Pakistani man prepares special thread used in kite flying in Karachi, 25 January 2006. The two-day festival of Basant marking the start of spring begin this evening with thousands of revellers perched on rooftops.



RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images

A Pakistani man prepares special thread used in kite flying in Karachi, 25 January 2006. The two-day festival of Basant marking the start of spring begin this evening with thousands of revellers perched on rooftops.

That was last year. This year’s kite festival promises to be festive now that the provincial government has again temporarily lifted a ban on kite-flying. The Pakistani Supreme Court had outlawed kites in 2005 after some folks were actually killed by kite strings that had been coated with glass or metal for extra competitive punch. The original decision was supported by many Islamists, who see the sport of kite-flying as “un-Islamic.”

Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.

Read More On Culture | Media | Pakistan | South Asia

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