Sunday Surkhi--Basant Ban in Pakistan

 Apparently in 2005 basant celebration was banned on flimsy reasons like accidents of kite flying and the sharpness of the threads etc.
 Probably there were other reasons like drinking-partying which were not mentioned (purposely?) openly. Such celebrations have been going on as a cultural phenomenon for ages and "untoward side-effects"(accidental deaths etc.) were known but ignored. Why should the government/court be concerned? Not clear and here I agree with the Dawn columnist Irfan that it is not a "Hindu" religious celebration.
 Islam admits all culture as long as there is no Haraam thing attached to it.
 Speaking of Basant I would say
 Flying kites is cheap fun and needs parental warning to be safe.
Drinking alcohol is haraam and should be treated as un-allowed-punishable etc.
Partying for fun and enjoyment related to 'seasonal change' is not Hindu but Hindi culture and cannot be considered un-islamic any more than dancing girls/boys at marriage/Menhdi occasions (Agree with Irfan)
This is similar to  banning videos and  VCRs instead of controlling the contents of films. It reminds me of when loudspeakers were first introduced, they were considered "voices of devil" and now every Masjid has it (Boy! dont we know that)

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