THE main object of forming laws is to maintain order through exercising its provisions in their respective fields. Critics feel exhausted while inscribing the disorders of the country’s administrative system to address certain vain ‘Acts’ and ‘Ordinances’ that ought to have a legal and enforcing effect on the public.

A case in point is the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance, 2002. In section 5, prohibition of smoking and other tobacco use implies forbidding smoking at a public place and bounds. The federal government is bound to issue guidelines for permitted, designated smoking areas, which has not been done.

Smoking increases the risk of tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.

We can clearly observe that neither the public has refrained from smoking for the protection of non-smokers’ health nor has the federal government ever determined or designated places where smoking would be permissible through issuing notification in the official gazette. But then again, the executives are evading their duties in almost all areas of national life.

This is not the only law that has remained unimplemented in Pakistan. There are many other laws that lead people to chaos as necessity knows no law.

Farrukh Attaullah
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2023