The Roman poet Juvenal warned long ago that rulers could pacify the masses by providing them with food and entertainment. In Pakistan today, as we enter February 2026, this ancient strategy appears to be playing out once again, with remarkable precision.

Lahore is staging quite the spectacle. After more than twenty years of enforced silence, the Basant festival has roared back from February 6 to 8, flooding the skies with thousands of colourful kites. Families crowd rooftops in Mochi Gate and Old Lahore, markets hum with the sale of kites, strings, and sweets, hotels are packed to capacity, and the local economy receives a timely and generous injection of cash.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who lifted the ban late last year, has declared public holidays, imposed strict safety rules, and proudly described it as a celebration of Punjabi culture and the arrival of spring. No more deadly glass-coated strings, just good, clean, regulated fun. It is all very vibrant, very photogenic, and very convenient. The cameras stay focused on Punjab, the headlines stay cheerful, and the rest of the country can be politely ignored for a few days.

Yet, while the kites soar gracefully above Lahore, large parts of Pakistan remain trapped in far harsher realities.

In the Tirah Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, more than seventy thousand people, mostly women and children, were forced to flee their homes in January 2026. Mosque announcements........

© The Friday Times