KARACHI: Sindh High Court Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar on Wednesday directed the local and provincial authorities concerned to inform the court of the steps taken for effective implementation of anti-smoking laws.

The direction came on the plea of a pulmonologist who wrote a letter to the chief justice seeking his intervention for the implementation of the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smokers Health Ordinance that banned smoking at public places.

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While converting the letter of Prof Dr Javaid Khan of the Aga Khan University into a constitutional petition, Chief Justice Baqar also issued a notice to the federal law officer and put off the matter to a date to be later fixed by the court office.

The professor wrote to the chief justice that tobacco use was the single largest preventable cause of disease and disability in the country.

According to estimates, he said, 100,000 people died every year in the country due to tobacco use. “Tobacco kills more people in Pakistan than deaths from suicide, bomb blasts, road traffic accidents, honour killing and drug abuse combined,” he added.

He said the anti-smoking law was passed by the federal cabinet in 2002, prohibiting smoking at all public places, including hotels, restaurants and cafes, and restrictions were placed on tobacco advertising as well as on its sale to minors.

Besides, he recalled, a resolution against smoking sheesha in restaurants and public places was also passed by the provincial assembly in 2011.

The professor of medicine told that chief justice that despite claims by the commissioner regarding the province-wide ban on sheesha, hundreds of restaurants continued to propagate this addiction, destroying the health of youth.

Unfortunately, he said, not much effort was invested in the implementation of anti-tobacco laws that were blatantly violated at many reputable hotels and restaurants including a fast food pizza chain.

Dr Khan informed the chief justice that the Civil Aviation Authority had recently opened a new smoking zone at Karachi airport, violating the law.

He said all universities were supposed to be smoke-free zones under the law, but the silence of vice chancellors on the rising trend of smoking within the universities and the lack of effort to put the smoking ban into effect was disheartening to note. He said his institution carried out research in which tobacco smoke pollution (TSP) was measured at various restaurants and cafes in some cities. “What was shocking about the results was the very high level of TSP at cafes where sheesha was being served,” he added. He said 50 per cent youth was found addicted to sheesha in another research done on university students in Karachi. He said majority of lung diseases were preventable if only smoking was avoided.

The doctor said the Supreme Court of Pakistan had taken a suo motu notice in 2006 on his letter regarding the growing tobacco epidemic in the country and consequently several important steps were taken by the government at that time. Under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, health was a provincial subject, he said, requesting the chief justice to give due consideration to the public health issue.

Dr Khan asked the court to direct the authorities concerned to take appropriate and effective steps for the implementation of anti-smoking laws.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2014