Pakistan asked to stand firm on cigarette ad decision

ISLAMABAD: An international health advocacy group here on Tuesday warned that any delay in the implementation of the government decision to increase the size of the pictorial warning on cigarette packets would put a negative effect on the health of the citizens.

Speaking at a news conference at the National Press Club, Dr Tahir Turk, senior technical adviser to the World Lung Foundation, said in the developed countries people had started quitting smoking because of the strict control and steps taken by the respective governments.

As a result, the international tobacco industry was now doing 80 per cent of its business in the low and middle income countries.

On February 11, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) announced that the size of the pictorial warning on the cigarette packets would be increased from the current 40 per cent of the packets to 85 per cent.

The tobacco industry would be instructed to introduce the new packing from May 31. The condition would also be applicable on imported cigarettes.

After the decision, however, not only delegations from the tobacco industry started visiting ministries but the growers and sellers also sprung into action claiming the decision would affect the economy of the country and destroy their business.

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Global watchdog says Islamabad should increase size of pictorial warning on cigarette packs

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The industry also wrote letters to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other departments saying the move not only would decrease the national revenue but would also encourage smuggling of cigarettes.

After the government’s decision, the World Health Organisation (WHO) sent a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and praised the first ever initiative against smoking in South Asia.

It may be noted that the combined revenue of the world’s six largest tobacco companies in 2013 was 342 billion dollars.

Dr Tahir Turk said the decision to increase the pictorial warning had shocked the tobacco industry. After Pakistan’s decision, India also decided to increase the size of the pictorial warning to 85 per cent of the cigarette packets. Nepal followed suit and said it would introduce 90 per cent pictorial warning on cigarette packets in May.

Sri Lanka has decided to increase the warning size to 85 per cent, he added.

“Pakistan is ranked as the fifth highest country of tuberculosis incidence in the world which is caused by smoking. About 62,000 people die of TB every year in the country. The government should be careful about the campaign launched by the tobacco industry,” he said.

Dr Fouad Aslam, a representative of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said over 108,800 people died each year in Pakistan due to the tobacco-related diseases.

“Pictorial warning is also necessary to discourage children from smoking. Whatever the tobacco industry is claiming about the tax and increase in the use of smuggled cigarettes is wrong because the industry had made the same claim in the developed countries a few decades ago,” he said.

Nadeem Iqbal, the executive coordinator of the Network for Consumer Protection, the local organisations working in the health sector were encouraged by the support of the international community.

“The industry has trying to stop the implementation of the decision to increase the pictorial warning on cigarette packets. The government should ensure the implementation of the decision in order to improve the health of the citizens,” he said.

According to the Tobacco Atlas, more than 20 million Pakistani adults (about 27.9 per cent of men and 5.4 per cent of women) smoke tobacco.

In 2010, 12.2 per cent of male deaths (1,645 men every week) and 4.5 per cent of female deaths (442 women every week) were caused by tobacco. Approximately, 555,000 Pakistani children also use tobacco every day and 9.9 per cent of boys (ranging from 6.1 per cent in Lahore to 14.1 per cent in Karachi) smoked tobacco.

Promotion of Chitral’s diverse culture urged

PESHAWAR: Chitral MPA Syed Sardar Hussain Shah on Tuesday said his district was home to rich cultural diversity, which should be promoted at all levels for peace in the region.

He was speaking as the chief guest during the cultural and musical night organised by the provincial directorate of culture at Nishtar Hall here.

The lawmaker said of the 27 languages in the province, 11 were spoken in Chitral.

He said the provincial directorate of culture deserved praise for organising grand cultural events, including those of Chitral.

Shah said Chitralis were the most peace-loving people and that diversity of their rich culture should be shared with people of other parts of the militancy-hit province.

“I am pleased to see my people enjoy their own cultural beauty in Peshawar. Also, Peshawarites will know through such events that how talented Chitrali performers are,” he said. The MPA said sharing cultural excellences would promote mutual understanding and awareness about unity in cultural diversity.

“Cultural activities also help us remove clouds of despondency and fear and bring us together to promote peace and social cohesion,” he said.

Chief organiser of the event Mahtab Ziyab urged the government to give exposure to Chitral’s rich cultural diversity.

He said the show was organised to promote Chitrali cultural diversity at the provincial level.

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Lawmaker says cultural activities bring people together for social cohesion, peace

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Ziyab said Chitral was spread over a large tract, where the people of diverse cultures had been living for centuries.

He said Chitral cultural diversity was quite popular in the world but unfortunately, it was not promoted in the country both at provincial and national levels.

The chief organiser said music, dance and poetry of Chitralis depicted a culture of peace and should be promoted at all levels. He said it was for the first time that Chitrali performers were given a chance to exhibit their talents on stage in Peshawar.

“I am thankful to PTI chairman Imran Khan and his party’s government in the province for providing us with a rare opportunity to exhibit Chitrali culture,” he said.

Chitrali folk singers Shujaulhaq, Zafar Hayat, Siddique Khan, Azam Khan, Taukal Khan and Dildar Ali AfShan sang their region’s popular songs written by local poets, including Faizan Ali, Mirza Ali Jan Parwana, Afzalullah and Shaukat Ali.

Abdul Basit, a resident of Kusham village in Chitral district and second-year student of Government College, Peshawar, said he was very happy to listen to songs in own mother tongue.

“It is for the first time that I am attending a Chitrali cultural and musical show in Nishtar Hall. Why should we be strangers in our own province?”

Ihtishamul Haq, another Chitrali student of the University of Peshawar, said he felt that his long-drawn-out thirst to listen to Khowar songs in Peshawar had finally quenched.

He said eight different musical instruments were used in Chitrali music, while the local dance had many forms.

Mohsin Jafar played different tunes on Chitrali sitar and received a round of applause from the audience.

Saeed Khan, Afsar Ali, Ameer Hamza and Munawar Shah Rangeen performed humourous skits in Khowar language drawing laughter from the audience.

Shafiq and his colleagues gave drum performance, while a group of Chitrali levies personnel entertained participants with Chitrali dance.

Students, teachers and families from Chitral showed up at the event in large numbers.

Militancy-hit people get compensation

KHAR: The Fata Secretariat on Tuesday began providing compensation to the people whose houses have been in use by the security forces for last several years.

About 88 people of Khar subdivision, whose houses have been occupied by security forces since 2010, received cheques of over Rs6.3 million during a ceremony. Tribal elders, members of peace committees and administration officials were in attendance.

Bajaur assistant political agent Sohil Ahmed Khan distributed cheques among the house owners. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the administration was aware about the problems of the militancy affected people and was committed to providing financial support to them.

He lauded the local people for turning over their residences to security forces during the fight against militancy.

Mr Khan said that the local administration and the security forces would never forget their contributions for establishment of durable peace in Bajaur.

On the occasion, the house owners thanked the government for financial assistance.

Later, talking to Dawn, assistant political agent said that the compensation amount had been provided by the federal government.

PA committee to probe illegal appointments case

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday referred the matter of the alleged illegal appointments by the previous government to the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation to the relevant concern for probe.

PTI MPA Yaseen Khalil raised the matter and said it should be referred to the relevant house committee for investigation.

During the question hour, he was surprised when Speaker Asad Qaisar made an announcement about his question (No 2135). Khalil complained about long delay in the response of the department to his question.

“Mr speaker, I submitted this question nine months ago. Let me read the answer of the department,” he said.

The MPA alleged that many employees had been appointed to the PEDO in different grades against the laid-down criteria.

“The employees were appointed to the PEDO though their posts were not advertised in newspapers,” he said.

Besides seeking other details, he also demanded in the question that the relevant department provide him with copies of the advertisements for vacancies. However, the demand wasn’t met.

ANP MPA Jaffar Shah also supported the mover’s call for referring the matter to the committee concerned for probe.

He said he received complaints about the appointment of non-locals to the Gorkan Mataltan Hydro Power Project despite the instructions of the government to prefer locals.

MPA alleges last govt illegally appointed people to energy organisation

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Elementary and secondary education minister Atif Khan, who was asked by the Speaker to give answer on behalf of the government, said the appointments were made by the previous government.

He supported the referring of the matter to the relevant committee for investigation.

Khalil was also unhappy with the response of the PEDO to his another question submitted one and a half years ago about it.

“I submitted this question in 2013,” he said.

JUI-F MPA Mufti Fazl Ghafoor drew the house’s attention towards the shortage of teachers and other staff members at the Government Degree College, Buner.

He said the college was upgraded from the intermediate level to the degree level in 2006 but the higher education department didn’t provide it with details of the required teachers.

Parliamentary secretary for law Arif Yousaf introduced three bills, including the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shops and PA committee to probe illegal appointments case Establishment Bill 2015 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill 2015 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Bill 2015.

Health minister Shahram Tarakai introduced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Establishment of Information Technology Board (Amendment) Bill 2015.

The session was later adjourned until Friday.

Study finds killing of over 1,800 marine turtles last year

KARACHI: An interview-based survey whose findings were shared during the proceedings of a regional symposium on Tuesday showed a massive bycatch problem in Pakistan with the shrimp fishery and turtles getting incidentally caught and killed in huge numbers annually.

Titled Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia, the two-day event was organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as part of its USAID-funded Saving the Endangered Sea Turtle project.

Giving a presentation on TED (turtle excluder device) trial monitoring and estimation of sea turtles mortality along the coast of Pakistan, Dr Nicolas J. Pilcher, the co-chair of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group and executive director of the Marine Research Foundation, said that Pakistan was a registered TED user nation with the US Department of State, but the implementation of TED regulations had been scarce for many years.

Assisted by local experts, Dr Pilcher carried out a baseline study last year to asses current state of the fishery, the rate of turtle bycatch and TEDs uptake. About 300 fishermen targeting shrimp and fish were interviewed.

“The results depicted a clear reliance on shrimp fishing by a majority of respondents who used trawl nets primarily but occasionally used other gears. The key concern with nets was the use of extremely small mesh sizes [less than a half centimetre],” he said.

According to the study findings, 87 per cent of fishers reported catching turtles accidentally in their nets last year. Most of them reported to have caught one turtle, but their number could exceed 10 turtles per boat per year. Green and olive Ridley turtles made up the bulk of the bycatch, but the catch of loggerheads and occasional bycatch of leatherback were also reported.

“When these values are extrapolated fishery-wide, they could account for 1,817 to 2,381 turtle deaths in the last year alone,” he said.

Although fishers reported that the trend was on the decline, this was likely linked to the overall number of turtles rather than any change in practices, he added.

During the survey, most fishers acknowledged they knew about the TEDs and that they had seen them.

“Indeed a substantial proportion of them had actually used a TED at some point in the past, but only 7pc indicated they used them now. A number of fishers indicated having trouble using TEDs (losing catch) and this created resentment that resulted in TED removal,” Dr Pilcher explained.

He cited the example of Malaysia where modified TEDs had proven to be successful for fishermen who were practically showed that the use of such a TED led to better catch quality, reduced cost of fuel and brought efficiency in the overall fishing activity.

The expert highlighted the need for a diverse programme of trials and demonstrations, along with the development of a technical TED team, to reintroduce TEDs amongst fishers and save sea turtles in Pakistan.

The other side of the coin

A presentation by Mohammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser on marine resources to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan, however, showed a different picture of turtle mortality.

Referring to a 2012 study, he said that rarely turtles were caught in trawl nets while fishing gears used in the creek were not harmful for turtles as the species was not found in the creek system.

“Monitoring of fishing operations in the offshore areas of Pakistan revealed that maximum number of turtles got entangled in the pelagic gillnet operations, resulting in mortality in some cases. It is heartening that majority of these turtles survive enmeshment,” he said, adding that about 25,000 to 30,000 turtles were released in the pelagic gillnet fisheries annually.

Turtle in Pakistan, he said, was represented by all the five known species from the Indian Ocean. Of them, only one species i.e. green turtle nested along the coast of Pakistan. Olive Ridley turtle used to nest here along the coast but for the past 12 years no authentic record of its nesting had been observed, he added.

“Recently, we have found confirmed records of occurrence of loggerhead turtle, hawksbill turtle and leatherback turtles from Pakistan coast. They face a number of threats, the most serious one being their entanglement in fishing nets,” he said.

Indian experiment

Highlighting the importance of turtles in the marine ecosystems, IUCN’s Asia Region Director Aban Marker Kabraji said that conservation and development could go simultaneously together. In this regard, he cited the example of Dhamra Port in India, where the IUCN helped TATA Group to join hands with turtle conservationists in coming up with a strategy to protect sea turtles there, as the port was being built.

Indian Ocean and South East Asia Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding Coordinator Clara Nobbe, Climate Change Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and Country Representative of IUCN Pakistan Mahmood Akhtar Cheema also spoke.

Six ‘militants’ killed in Mashkay gunbattle

QUETTA: Six suspected militants were killed and several others injured in a gunbattle in Awaran district on Tuesday. A paramilitary soldier also lost his life in the clash.

A Frontier Corps spokesman said that acting on information about the presence of militants in the Mashkay area the FC undertook a search operation which led to the exchange of fire.

“Six militants and one FC personnel were killed,” he said.

The spokesman said the militants were involved in attacking convoys of security forces and killing innocent people. They also kidnapped people for ransom.

He said that FC recovered arms and ammunition and communication devices from the militants’ hideout.

Eight militants surrender Meanwhile, eight militants surrendered before the FC in the Mawand area of Kohlu district.

According to the FC spokesman, eight members of the banned Balochistan Republican Army and their leader Shekh alias Chala Resh surrendered in the presence of Commandant of Mawand Rifles Col Masroor-ur-Rehman and tribal elders, including Khan Mohammad Masori.

The militants also handed over their weapons.

The spokesman said that the militants were involved in attacks on security forces, blowing up gas pipelines and targeting civilians.

IMF welcomes Beijing-led Asian bank

BEIJING: International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde said on Monday she welcomed Beijing’s creation of a new infrastructure bank — an institution that has drawn support from Europe and scepticism from Washington.

Lagarde made the comments as she wrapped up a five-day visit to China and after a host of European countries announced their intention to sign up for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The moves by Britain, Germany, France, Italy and others have caused consternation in the United States and Japan, which lead the World Bank and the Manila-based Asian Development Bank respectively.

Some view the new bank as a competitor to the two institutions.

In a statement issued after she met Premier Li Keqiang, Lagarde hailed Beijing’s “impressive efforts” to reform in areas including combating corruption, controlling pollution and “clearing the path to even more engagement with the world”.

“I welcomed China’s various initiatives in this area, including through the newly established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,” she said.

Lagarde said Sunday that the IMF would be “delighted” to cooperate with the new bank, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.

World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati has also hailed the AIIB, telling Xinhua: “Any new initiative that will mobilise funding in order to fill the infrastructure gap is certainly welcome”.

China has embraced the European eagerness to take part in the new body, with state media claiming that the US risks being sidelined.

Beijing touts the $50 billion institution as a tool to help meet gaps in financing needs for regional development in Asia.

But US officials have expressed caution amid worries the institution could undermine the World Bank.

Lagarde also said the IMF welcomed Beijing’s longstanding drive to include its yuan in the IMF’s basket of reserve currencies, adding: “We will work closely with the Chinese authorities in this regard.”

Lagarde’s visit comes amid mounting concern over slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

Top Chinese leaders have said the economy is in a delicate transition from decades of double-digit annual growth to a new, slower and more sustainable model, a stage they have branded as the “new normal”.

Lagarde referenced the phrase and offered praise for the structural reforms pledged by the ruling Communist Party at its top meeting in late 2013.

“This should lead to slower, safer, and more sustainable growth — with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship — which will be good for China and its people, and good for the world,” Lagarde said.