‘A safe Basant’: Pakistan revives iconic kite festival after yearslong ban
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Home Three-day festival marking the arrival of spring is set to kick off in Lahore on Friday On a cold, hazy morning, hundreds of kite-flying enthusiasts lined up at Mochi Gate in Lahore's Walled City, waiting for their turn to buy kites ahead of this week's Basant festival, which is returning after a year-long hiatus. Hundreds of others swarmed the adjoining streets as kite sales commenced at some 300 designated places and vendors across the city. A frantic energy surged through the crowd as everyone scrambled for a kite, and whenever a lucky few managed to snag one, the air filled with jubilant cheers and claps. The three-day festival, traditionally celebrated with the advent of spring, is set to kick off on Friday. "My friends and I came here six hours before the shop opened," Kashif Shah, a kite-flying enthusiast, told Anadolu.
Published: February 5, 2026 5:15 pm
Source: The Express Tribune — Read original