RAWALPINDI, March 24: The National Assembly deputy speaker, Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob, on Wednesday said he would take up the issue of printing of anti-smoking message on cigarette packs in the parliament soon.

The deputy speaker was talking to the participants of the annual speech contest among various colleges and universities of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad held at Gordon College.

The topic for the speech contest, organized by Pakistan National Heart Association (Panah), was 'Smoking and Heart Disease'. Mr Yaqoob said he would raise the issue of replacing the current warning printed on cigarette packs with a more informative one like "Tobacco is a killer" in the parliament. Earlier, participants of the function had adopted a resolution that called for a debate regarding this issue on the floor of the house.

The deputy speaker urged the policy-makers and parents to advise the children against smoking, which was one of the main causes of heart and other diseases. The practice can only be discouraged by following the principles of Islam, he added.

Those who exercise and adopt healthy dietary habits have longer lives compared to others, he said. Panah general secretary, Dr Abdul Qayyum Awan, asked the citizens, especially the youth, to keep themselves away from the evils of addiction.

He also stressed on the need for creating awareness among the masses through media and interpersonal communication about smoking and heart diseases. The students, in their speeches, urged the policy-makers to make new laws and amend the existing ones for discouraging smoking.

The number of heart patients in the country, they said, was increasing with each passing day due to the burgeoning population, majority of which were happy to spend easy and lazy lives and were not good in their eating habits nor did regular exercise.