LAHORE’S sky last week looked like a moving painting. From dawn until well past midnight, thousands of kites in bright yellows, pinks, greens and blues fluttered above rooftops, drifting and diving in a choreography that felt both spontaneous and ancient. The shouts of children, the laughter of families and the familiar cry of victory when one kite cut another carried through the air like music. After nearly two decades of prohibition, Basant returned not as nostalgia but as proof that culture, when managed responsibly, can be both safe and economically transformative.

More than 900000 vehicles entered the city in three days. Roughly 1.4 million passengers used public transport. Over 600000 rode the Orange Line free of cost. Hotels filled, restaurants overflowed, vendors sold out their stock and rooftop gatherings became small businesses. For a city long associated in global headlines with security concerns and political turbulence, Lahore offered a different image. It presented itself as joyful, organized and open to the world.

This is not merely a local festival story. It is an economic story and a political one. Around the world, cities have learned that cultural celebrations are not indulgences but engines of growth. Munich’s Oktoberfest attracts about six million visitors annually and generates more than one billion dollars for the Bavarian economy. Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival injects hundreds of millions into Brazil’s tourism sector in a matter of days. New Orleans during........

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