By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The smoking rate in Pakistan is increasing rapidly and is one of the leading causes of cancer and heart disease.
No new tobacco product should be regularized, the speakers demanded during a walk on Friday at National Press Club Islamabad hosted by PANAH.
Many students, civil society, lawyers, journalists, and citizens participated in the walk. Children were holding placards and banners rejecting new tobacco product legislation.
Major General (retd) Masood-ur-Rehman Kayani said that Panah has been working for the last 40 years to protect its fellow citizens from heart and other related diseases, one of the main causes of which is smoking.
He said, “We are trying to protect our young generation from smoking, but the tobacco industry is always putting our children in danger by introducing new products. We reject new tobacco product legislation.”
Afzal Butt said the entire journalistic community of Pakistan joins Panah in rejecting the new tobacco products legislation.
Sanaullah Ghumman, Secretary General PANAH, said that more people are suffering from smoking addiction in Pakistan, which is more than 22 million. He added, “Our young generation is also getting addicted to drugs, and around 1200 young children start smoking daily.
Civil society and students demanded government in walk that many countries ban these tobacco products, and many countries will ban them. We reject the government’s move to regularize these products and appeal. They want to ban them completely to save the new generation from their destruction.
