Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari stated on Wednesday that the Basant festival, revived recently in Lahore after 18 years, will next be celebrated in February 2027. She said, "I want to state categorically ... that Basant will be celebrated in February 2027. No suggestion for celebrating it before that is under consideration." Some people in a few cities celebrated the festival in recent days, but there were no losses reported. Bokhari noted the public's excitement and shared it herself. She promised the February 2027 Basant would be "bigger and better than the one held this year." Earlier in February, Punjab lifted the 18-year ban on the Basant festival, holding it for three days in Lahore with strict rules. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif praised the event, calling it a "safe Basant" with "not a single death caused by injuries from kite strings."