On the recommendation of Administrator & Municipal Commissioner East Karachi, Director Libraries DMC East Karachi Mrs. Talat Shakeel declared all the five libraries of District Municipal Corporation(DMC) East Karachi as smoke free zone, it was decided in the meeting of Tobacco Smoke Free Karachi held at the office of Allama Iqbal Public Library DMC East.
It was held in the continuation of Tobacco Smoke Free Cities(TSFC) initiative of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination(NHSR&C) to make East Karachi as a model smoke free district by the enforcement of Tobacco Control laws in all the Public Places including public offices, libraries, schools and all types of Public Service Vehicles.
Director Libraries DMC East commenced the meeting after the recitation of Holy Quran and invited Dr. Minhaj to share his views and how libraries department could help TSFC to discourage the emerging trend of smoking among youth and adults.
Dr. Minhaj us Siraj Project Director Tobacco Control Ministry of NHSR&C shared his experiences of successful Tobacco Control laws enforcement in Islamabad including other district of Pakistan.
Project Director Tobacco Control stated that Nicotine is a pesticide which use in the making of cigarettes along with other chemicals and said “we are working on demand reduction of tobacco and to protect citizens from second hand smoke”.
He informed moot participants that deaths from the use of tobacco products is much higher as compare to the deaths of COVID-19, all the stakeholders should have to work together to discourage its use to save their and future generations lives.
In the end of Meeting Director Libraries DMC East praised the efforts of Tobacco Smoke Free Cities and assured for the support of department for this noble cause, However she also declared all the libraries of DMC East as smoke free zone by inaugurating the smoke free plate at Allama Iqbal Public Library.
Muhammad Aftab Project Manager TSFC, Bilal Zafar Coordinator Tobacco Control (East) Karachi, Tanveer Qaimkhani Coordinator Tobacco Control (South) Karachi, including all the employees and officers of DMC East Libraries department were present in the meeting and also shared their views on the importance of Tobacco Control laws enforcement.
