PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Tobacco and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Act, 2016 is being introduced to become yet another piece of legislation that will bring the same results as other laws on tobacco have.
In a country where over 30 laws exist to curb illegal cigarettes alone and yet it now has the second highest market share in the tobacco industry, introducing new laws without enforcing the existing ones, is nothing but a conscious and inexcusable eye wash.
The bill calls for prohibition of tobacco in public places and public service vehicles amongst other directives.
According to Pakistan Agricultural Forum (PAF) tobacco is the main cash crop of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and it is the primary source of income for over 75,000 farmers and 240,000 dependents.
A representative of the KP Farmers Association said that serious questions are posed like: is there an alternative crop in place of tobacco that can meet the economic needs of farmers? Will the government take ownership of the farmers who will no longer have a source of income once the law comes into effect? Is there any guarantee that the on-ground officials will have an understanding of the difference between carrying tobacco and smoking? These need to be addressed by the government before enforcing the law.
The Farmers Association feels that all of these issues could have been addressed if the most important stakeholder of all, the farmers, had been a part of the consultative process while the law was being drafted.
Farmers in KP have already registered their protest along with a charter of demands to the Chief Minister’s Office. ‘The timing of this bill could not have been worse as it had arrived in the midst of the tobacco purchase season.
Legal experts have been criticising the bill ever since it was tabled, saying that it contravenes the boundaries set out by the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002 (NSO) — an ordinance that acts as the central governing source for all smoking legislations in the country.
Leading lawyer, Iftikhar Khan, said the Act was a sketchy and ill-informed piece of legislation as it did not take into account the tobacco landscape in the country. “The restriction to sell, distribute and use tobacco within 50 metres of an educational institute has been expanded to 100 metres. It shows no regard for the issue currently being sub judice,” he said.
He went on to express his surprise that the provincial government had paid little heed to the Supreme Court’s suo moto directives to curb Shisha use and imports and had instead taken a different direction.
As per sources in the provincial government, the new regulation is aimed at protecting the health of non-smokers in the province. However, with an abundance of laws governing smoking, lying dormant without enforcement, it remains to be seen how this bill will be any different except for its added nuisance value.