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After nearly two decades of silence, Lahore's rooftops are alive again. Its hotels are full, and the sky is crowded with kites. The Maryam Nawaz government has lifted the ban on Basant after 19 years of restriction. Lahoris are pumped, and hotels in Androon Lahore are booked as the city welcomes its favourite festival after decades.
Students of Lahore University decorate their campus with kites for the three-day Basant celebrations. (AP Image)
Actors Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, Vinod Khanna and Rekha, were among the bigwigs whom poet Muhammad Iqbal's grandson, Yousaf Salahuddin, hosted at his Barood Khana haveli in Lahore's Walled City for Basant festivities. Salahuddin regrets the lost opportunity of two decades, according to Pakistani daily Dawn. Basant, which could have been a multi-million-dollar cultural export, was reduced to memory because of a ban.
Umar Saif, a Pakistani scientist and self-confessed blue-blooded Lahori, too remembers how rooftops turned into kite battlegrounds, BBQ grills smoked till dawn, music blasted as if the entire city had decided to go live at once on Basant nights.
Saif is pumped up, and rightly so, as Basant is back in Pakistan after a 19-year ban. Expats are flocking back to Lahore. Millions of Lahoris on their rooftops would again get to chant "bo kata" (meaning hacked or cut) with every kite-war win.
The Basant festival, rooted in the Hindu agrarian and Sufi traditions of the subcontinent, marks the arrival of spring and has long been a riot of colour and joy. But for nearly two decades, Lahore was deprived of kite flying, leaving a generation that only knew Basant through photos and stories.
The festival has made a spectacular return this year.
The Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, has lifted the 19-year-old ban and invested heavily in promoting the celebrations. Celebrations of the three-day festival started on Friday (February 6). Streets and squares of Punjab, especially Lahore, are buzzing. Markets are crowded with people buying kites, hotels and rooftops of the Androon Lahore (Walled City) have been booked for kite-flying.
"Kites return to the skies of Lahore as Basant comes alive again after 25 years! A celebration of culture, colour, and community! Let's enjoy the festivities together responsibly, follow all safety SOPs, and make this Basant safe for everyone," Maryam Nawaz Sharif posted on X on Friday.
Yet, even as Basant has returned, unprecedented strict regulations have been placed and concerns about safety are being flagged.
While security measures are in place in Lahore, Pakistani broadcaster GeoTV reported that a 25-year-old man died of electrocution while retrieving a kite from live wires, and five people have been arrested for flouting guidelines.
WHY LAHORE BANNED, BUT UNBANNED BASANT FESTIVAL WITH CAUTION?
The Basant kiteflying festival was banned in 2007 in Lahore and Punjab after years of deaths and injuries caused by dangerous kite strings coated with glass or metal that's known in India as Chinese manjha. Celebratory gunfire and electrocution incidents had marred celebrations too.
The Punjab provincial government's decision to lift the ban on Basant follows years of calls for a revival. The Maryan Nawaz government said it was viewing it as an opportunity to restore a tradition centre to Lahore's identity. If Lahoris demonstrate responsibility, Basant could expand province-wide in future years, according to Punjab Information and Culture Minister Azma Bokhari, reported Dawn.
But the revival of Basant in Lahore came with strict conditions. QR-coded enabled kites are mandated, heavy fines, and massive safety measures to tackle illegal manjha and celebratory gunfire have been banned. The administration has also banned kites bearing symbols of political parties, holy books, religious places, and personalities in the city.
Minors are prohibited from flying kites, and safety rods on motorcycles are mandatory, according to a report in the Express Tribune.
LAHORE MARKETS ARE BUZZING, OLD CITY ROOFS, HOTELS ARE BOOKED FOR BASANT
Lahore's streets have come alive with excitement. Social media videos show that markets are overflowing with Lahoris rushing to buy kites. Meanwhile, prices of kites have soared due to sudden high demand, Pakistani news channel GeoTV reported.
"My friends and I came here six hours before the shop opened... We've waited years for this moment to see Lahore's skies filled with kites again," Kashif Shah, a kite-flying enthusiast at Lahore's Mochi Gate, told Anadolu, the Turkish state-run news agency.
"There's a big rush... Bhai, a pinna is selling for PKR 10,000. Some are priced at PKR 9,000, PKR 10,000, and even PKR 12,000," a man said in a video from Androon Lahore posted on X. A pinna is a spool of kite string.
"Live concerts all around. The TLP is dead. Basant blooming after so long, we are so back Lahore...," a Lahori person named Hashim Shah, posted on X.
Rooftops in the Walled City are booked at premium rates, some fetching millions, while hotels report full occupancy, according to the Express Tribune.
A reservation agent at the Pearl Continental Hotel told Pakistani daily Dawn that most rooms had been booked by Pakistanis from outside the city, and also foreigners. The hotel will host a concert by Abrarul Haq on Saturday (February 7), which will also feature kite-flying for guests. Meanwhile, a booking manager at the Walled City's Avari Hotel said no rooms were available until February 9.
While the provincial government of Maryam Nawaz had to approve manufacturing of permissible kite materials in four additional districts to meet the rush, beyond just Lahore, traders in the Walled City welcomed the economic revival, calling it a long-overdue boost after years of restrictions.
YOUNGER GENERATION IN PAKISTAN, GEN Z SET TO EXPERIENCE BASANT FOR FIRST TIME
While older and middle-aged people, whose memories are filled with Basant, are rejoicing at the festival's unbanning.
"From the age of five to 22, I flew kites almost every other day, and not just on Basant... My top financier was my naani," 47-year-old Hassan Ejaz Wynetold Dawn, adding how children prepared days in advance, capturing "around 50 to 60 good-quality kites" before Basant day.
However, it is the first time the younger generation and Gen Z will get to experience the magic of Basant in Lahore.
"What exactly is Basant? And how do Gen Z/newcomers experience it?" questions as these are there on several subreddits on Reddit, where people have tried to explain what Basant is.
Yet as Lahore celebrates, other parts of Punjab are left out.
"Basant isn't just about Lahore. All of Punjab wants to celebrate it," a person named Rashid Ali posted on X with a broken heart emoji.
Karachi-based Mudassar said on X, "Humne bhi Basant manani hai (Even we want to celebrate Basant), tagging Maryam Nawaz.
WHY LIFTING OF BAN ON BASANT HAS FACED OPPOSITION
However, there were concerns and opposition as Lahore moved to lift the 19-year-old ban.
On the Lahore subreddit, someone asked, "How safe will Basant be this year? I'm visiting Lahore and grew up abroad, so I've never experienced Basant. I know the city has strict regulations to ensure safety, but how safe will it actually be, and how much will it be enforced? Anyone have any info on this? From my understanding, it was dangerous back in the day due to the chemicals on the string and those are banned now. But is that the only reason for the fatalities? Just don't want to die lol (sorry if it's been asked before)."
In August 2025, a Member of Punjab's Provincial Assembly of former PM Imran Khan's PTI, Sheikh Imtiaz Mahmood, approached the Lahore High Court, seeking suspension of Basant celebrations. The petition cited public safety risks from kites and strings, referring to past accidents.
Some people have questioned the extravagance surrounding Basant and the money being spent, even as there were several other priorities that needed to be attended to.
A person, Adeela, on X said she had a "genuine question... who financed the international travel and lodging of overseas TikTokers invited to Basant in Lahore by Maryam Nawaz" and asked if it was "privately sponsored or funded through public resources".
Another person on X said that after turning on the TV for just five minutes, "every channel was constantly running long Basant ads", while "farmers in Punjab are economically devastated due to low support prices for wheat". The person sarcastically added that the government seems to think "they can eat cake too", referring to French queen Marie Antoinette.
Some had an absurd reason to oppose, not the celebration, but Maryam Nawaz.
Lahore-based doctor Hajrah Bajwa on X said, "I don't have a problem with Basant as long as safety measures are adequately taken, or with anything that's harmless and enjoyable". However, she added, "What I don't like is Maryam Nawaz being the face of it because she is not the legitimate representative of the people of Pakistan or Punjab".
Irrespective of the opposition and concerns — many of which are turning true — kites have returned to Lahore's skies. Basant is once again doing what it always did earlier — stitching joy, memory and identity into a city desperate for colour. But the festival's comeback has also brought concerns over safety, spectacle and priorities over Basant to the fore.
For now, debates can wait. Lahore is busy shouting "bo kata".
- Ends
Published By:
Sushim Mukul
Published On:
Feb 6, 2026
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