The New Blood Sport

This is in continuation of my earlier posts about FL's Enlightened Moderation vis-à-vis Basant celebrations and kite flying. I sometimes wonder if it is just us (the dwellers of the land of the pure) or are there other denizens of the planet that do things that defy all logic and common sense. Living away from the pure land, I run into quite a few interesting stories which are about the "others" but trust me when I say this, the interesting stories here generally are about fellow beings who are from our part of the world.

But I digress, lets get back to the topic. This year, the same as last year, the legal battle started early. FL's team of whiz kids had planned well ahead of time. The first monumental thing was launch of Visit Pakistan Year, by none other than my other favourite person in our government, Ms. Nilofer Bakhtiar, the Federal Minister for Tourism. You might remember that this protege was responsible for the whole Mukhtaran Mai fiasco as the Special Advisor for Women's Affairs. After making a sordid mess of that, she has been given the responsibility for making Pakistan a tourist haven. I don't think my mind is capable of even imagining the kind of asinine things Ms. Bakhtiar will come up with to make this a success. The good thing is that aside from spending lots of money, she has kept her mouth shut. I hope it stays that way.

So the usual lackeys approached the Supreme Court to get the ban lifted on kite flying for the celebration of Basant. I am sure that after "lots" of deliberation, the SC decided that it would be ok to fly kites. The last few weeks have seen a lot of news items regarding this tough decision, and then viola!! We are all set for Basant, celebrating the coming of spring, in the best enlightened way possible. The Mullahs wept, since this is the only battle they have been consistently losing. But in light of their recent victory, where they got away with re-building of mosques and madrassas that were demolished by CDA, because they were deemed unIslamic, by baton and stone wielding sisters in burqas, I feel they didn't really care much for this defeat.

It is reported that 1,100 kite manufacturers were registered by the Lahore city government. And they have been selling kites and associated items with wild abandon. All for the two days in the year, when kite flying is allowed in the land of the pure.

Today is the day, when it all begins. I am wondering why or how three people have already died (Daily Dawn) because of kite related incidents, since it wasn't even supposed to start till today. So forget about all other types of blood sport, Kite Flying is the new age thing, the sport that kills more than any other, only when it is practiced two days in the year. I wonder how many will die if its allowed for more than this. So in conclusion, it is the ultimate wisdom of our judiciary that shines through in these dreary and murky times, a few lives is a small price to pay to further our just cause.