Bombs, guns, knives, kites...

[karyn]

from yahoo

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Flying a kite in Pakistan is a dangerous pastime.

Already it's banned for all but 15 days of the year but a provincial minister warned kite-flyers this week that any who cause injury or death with string made from metal or coated with glass could be tried under anti-terrorism laws.

The Punjabi chief minister's unprecedented threat came just ahead of the start of an annual kite-flying festival in the provincial capital, Lahore, Sunday.

Kite-flying in Pakistan and neighboring India often involves aerial duels in which participants try to bring down each other's kites using string coated in a sticky paste of ground-up glass or metal.

Every year, Pakistani media report dozens of deaths and injuries caused by kite flying, mainly of children and motorcyclists whose throats are sometimes cut by metal or glass-coated string.

"It is a matter of concern that a healthy sport is being turned into a game of death," the official APP news agency quoted Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi as saying Tuesday.

Elahi said a crackdown had been launched against the sale of sharp kite string and threatened a permanent ban on kite-flying if deaths continued.

"Action under the Anti-Terrorism Act would be taken in case of deaths due to ... dangerous kite-flying string," he was quoted as saying.

Pakistan's Supreme Court banned kite-flying nationwide last year in response to an outcry over injuries and deaths. The ban was lifted for a 15-day period to allow the holding of this month's traditional kite-flying festival of Basant.

Some Islamist groups have staged protests in the past week after newspapers reported several deaths caused by kite-flying, denouncing the activity as un-Islamic.

[bohoki]

wow what the heck kind of kites are they fluing that could support a metal wire or glass coated string

must be some type of hang glider

would a person get arested for flying a hello kitty kite?

[Lady Alias]

That's insane. Kind of sucks if that's how you die, though.

[Mr Karl]

flying kites is un-islamic........figures

[hewhoisagod]

It's called kite fighting, the point is to either catch the kite with hooks or loops on your own kite or to cut the string of the kite using the glass or metal coating. I read about this when I was like 9.

[inox]

Here's a handy test to determine whether something is un-Islamic:

[hewhoisagod]

I know a lot of muslims that do a lot of non muslim things. Considering that danse and music are forbidden in the Qu'ran. I have a friend here that drank every time I was around him, except for ramadan.

[sheramil]

the people along the India-Pakistan border get very emotional about their kite festivals. they regularly erupt into three-day riots which end up with dozens killed, shops looted and burned - and the last time i read a report on this, it was all because "someone's kite string got crossed with someone else's."

think about that. there are people who are dead because of arguments about kite-strings.