ISLAMABAD, July 1: The government is considering to ban cigarette advertisements on television from morning till midnight as a first step towards implementing the anti-smoking ordinance, claims Dr Zafar Mirza, executive coordinator of The Network for Consumer Protection.

Dr Mirza told reporters here on Tuesday that the government received annual revenue of Rs40 billion from the tobacco industry— a revenue much less than the overall expenditure on the cure of the smoking-related diseases. “It receives an annual revenue of Rs216,000 against each death caused due to smoking- related disease,” he said while quoting a WHO study.

Expressing reservations about the recently implemented anti- smoking ordinance, he said the government should not consider the revenue since this money was “stained with the blood of the Pakistani people”.

At least 99,000 people die each year in the country owing to smoking-related diseases.

The government has put a ban on smoking at public places starting from June 30.

The prohibition was put in place after Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan signed four notifications relating to the implementation of Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non- smokers Health Ordinance 2002, during a seminar on Monday. Dr Zafar Mirza was of the view that the anti-smoking ordinance was merely an eyewash in the absence of a comprehensive strategy.

There was nothing remarkable in the ordinance to congratulate the government about, he said adding that the enforcement of ordinance was decided only a day earlier and yet it failed to fully enforce ban on tobacco advertisements and place restrictions on smoking at the public places.

He also expressed dissatisfaction over the prohibition on the sale of cigarettes within 50 meters of an educational institution and criticized the government for not placing comprehensive ban on the advertisements of cigarettes on all type of media.

A public awareness campaign has been launched to create awareness on different sections of the ordinance.