LAHORE: The Punjab police have sought help of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in identifying people running business of kites on social media platforms besides taking stern actions against them.

In a letter sent to Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Momin Agha, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastgir has proposed amendments to the Punjab prohibition of kite flying ordinance, 2001, for enhancing punishments and fines for the buyers, sellers and manufacturers of kites and strings.

Under the proposals, the IG suggested that there should be a minimum one year to five year imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 200,000 to Rs 2 million or both for the manufacturers of kites and strings. "Imprisonment should be from minimum three months to one year and fine should be from minimum from Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000 or both at the same time," the proposal reads.

In the letter, the provincial police chief also asked the ACS to take on board the cybercrime wing of the FIA in identifying and nabbing the people running kite flying business on social media platforms and those who upload their videos "just for fun".

He said FIA cybercrime wing should be directed for taking actions against individuals involved in the online business of kite flying through Facebook and other websites whereas the services of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Ministry of Commerce should also be sought for banning the import of raw materials required for manufacturing of metallic strings.

Dastgir pointed out that easy bail procedure given in the existing laws of kite flying and the absence of legal actions required for online buying and selling of kites and metallic strings have caused an increase in the kite flying due to which sad incidents are occurring despite actions taken by police.

In that scenario, the IG told the ACS that kite flying activities during the current year increased three percent as compared to the previous year. From 1st January to 30th June, he mentioned in the letter, police registered 8,721 FIRs against the manufacturers, fliers and sellers. "Around 95,102 kites, 2,647 strings, 7,467 Goots, 62,525 kite paper rims, 593 kite making sticks of bamboo, 37 gum boxes, 10 printing plates along with other material were recovered during the police actions," the letter added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020