Pakistan, Jan. 24 -- The sight of kites once again filling the February sky has stirred nostalgia, all the while reviving memories of the very real human cost that forced the festival's disappearance in the first place.

Basant was never merely a pastime. For years, it was Lahore's most visible cultural export, drawing tourists, energising the local economy, and turning rooftops into sites of collective celebration. Yet its decline was neither accidental nor exaggerated. By the mid-2000s, competitive kite-fighting had evolved into a dangerous arms race, fuelled by metal-coated strings capable of slicing through flesh, severing arteries, and claiming lives with horrifying regularity. The ban imposed in 2007 was, thus, an admission of admin...