PESHAWAR: In a bid to promote tourism and provide entertainment opportunities to people, the Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) has arranged Basant Festival in Nowshera district today.
No doubt, holding festivals and creating the opportunities of entertainment are direly needed especially at a time when the society is passing through the environment of fear and anxiety as such an event reduces tension. Though TCKP other activities such as holding indigenous games, crafts fair and water sports, etc. could be adjudged the best events, holding Basant festival is something irrelevant for the corporation. Basant is not part of our culture. It is believed to have been adopted from the Indians. Many risks are also associated with the festival that has been banned in Punjab.
The festival was much popular in Punjab, especially in Lahore, and was being celebrated regularly but the Punjab government was compelled to ban it because of increasing number of causalities caused by the use of class-coated strings. Holding Basant is still banned in Punjab despite the fact that holding the festival used to generate billions of rupees revenue.
