Report on Smoke-Free Islamabad campaign to be released shortly

After ISE Tower, 139 public places become

smoke-free ahead of World No Tobacco Day

Islamabad

On World No-Tobacco Day this month, the Smoke-Free Islamabad project will be launching a third-party evaluation report regarding its two-year campaign on making Islamabad a smoke-free zone. Only this week, three major restaurants including an international fast food chain have been included in the list of 139 public places in Islamabad that are now tobacco smoke-free.

Dr. Minhaj-us-Siraj, project director of Tobacco Smoke-free Islamabad and Deputy Director General of Health at the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) A&DD, shared this piece of information while speaking at the seminar arrange in connection with declaration of the Islamabad Stock Exchange Tower (ISE) a smoke-free facility.

Discussing the ill-effects of tobacco use on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, in line with this year’s World No Tobacco Day theme of ‘Tobacco: a threat to development,’ Dr. Minhaj emphasised on the development goals related to poverty, health, child education, gender equity, climate, life under water, and peace and justice.

Waqas Rashid, additional deputy commissioner of ICT, highlighted the need for public awareness for implementing tobacco control laws and how preventive measures protect health and environment. He shared that due to strict crackdown on commercial use of ‘sheesha,’ the owners of ‘sheesha’ cafes have switched to other clear businesses.

Earlier, Zahid Latif Khan, chairman of ISE Tower Management Company, welcomed the initiative and undertook to ensure compliance of tobacco control laws in the whole 19+3 storeyed building which houses head offices of 34 multi-national companies besides Pakistan Stock Exchange.

Naeem Murtaza, president of Rotary Club, Islamabad, pledged the support of his club for the cause of tobacco control.  Earlier last week, the management of Saudi-Pak tower, which is a smoke-free building, imposed a fine of Rs5,000 on one of its employees caught on CCTV camera while smoking in the lift.