Pakistanis Say Kites Are Health Hazard <!-- END HEADLINE -->
<!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->Tue Apr 4, 11:58 AM ET
Lawmakers in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday approved a law banning kite flying for reasons of public safety, a provincial government minister said.
The bill was unanimously passed by the North West Frontier province assembly, said Sardar Mohammed Idress, minister for local government and rural development in the province's Cabinet.
The anti-kite flying law follows a similar move by the government in the eastern Punjab province where authorities banned kite flying after seven people were killed by kite strings reinforced with glass and metal coating.
Kite flying is not popular in the northwestern province but in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, kites are passionately flown during an annual festival to herald spring. The festival was marked on March 12-13.
Many of the deaths occurred in Lahore, where metal-coated strings often cause electricity outrages when they fall on power lines.
Idress said the ban in his province was intended to save lives.
"The aim of the law is to protect lives and government and private property," he said.
However, town mayors in the province will be authorized to give permission locally for kite flying for 15 days in the spring.
Under the law, makers and sellers of kites will have to register with the government, apparently to stop them from selling illegally coated strings. The strings are often reinforced for kite-flying competitions to enable opponents to cut each other's kite strings.
