Islamabad: Rising tobacco and nicotine use among Pakistan’s youth, especially around educational institutions, emerged as the central concern at a national review session on tobacco control held by the Aurat Foundation in Islamabad.
Participants from Parliament, government departments, health organizations, and civil society warned that easy availability of cigarettes, vapes, nicotine pouches, and flavored tobacco near schools is creating a growing public health threat. The discussion also pointed to a noticeable increase in tobacco use among women, indicating a shifting trend.
The session called for stronger legislation, faster policy action, and strict enforcement to counter the rapid spread of emerging nicotine products. Speakers emphasized that existing laws remain poorly implemented due to procedural delays, weak monitoring, and limited coordination between federal and provincial bodies.
The need for clear parental awareness, community engagement, and better recognition of new nicotine products was highlighted as an essential part of early prevention. Officials noted that families and schools often remain unaware of modern products marketed to young people.
Technical briefings identified major enforcement gaps and policy loopholes that allow the tobacco industry to expand its reach. Participants noted that companies are increasingly using social media trends, entertainment content, and youth-focused marketing to promote vaping in urban areas.
Government representatives reaffirmed ongoing federal efforts to implement the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002 and to tighten regulations where required. Provincial representatives also announced plans to introduce new resolutions to strengthen tobacco control.
Education sector officials raised alarms over the rise of nicotine products around private institutions and called for tougher regulatory checks. Regulatory authorities stressed the need for a broader social movement to counter tobacco use nationwide.
Closing the event, the Aurat Foundation reiterated its commitment to evidence-based advocacy, cross-sector collaboration, and long-term public awareness initiatives aimed at building a healthier, tobacco-free society.UNITED NATIONS: In the wake of sexual violence being used as a weapon of war and a tool to consolidate illegal occupation of territories, Pakistan has drawn the attention of the international community to the plight of women in Kashmir and Palestine where sexual violence has been deployed to punish and humiliate communities.
Delivering a national statement at the UN Security Council Annual Open Debate on “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence” on Wednesday, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, highlighted the gravity and acuteness of the problem in situations of foreign occupation such as in IIOJK and Palestine.
He said that the full scale of the systematic repression and abuse is often masked by lack of transparency, access and reporting, and immunity laws shield occupying forces from accountability in such situations.
“These cases must not escape international scrutiny. They demand urgent attention from the Council and the SRSG’s office,” he said.
Ambassador Asim said that a glaring example of such violations is in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing violence, forced displacement and starvation at the hand of the occupying power, Israel.
He said that despite the limited access granted to UN monitors in Palestine, the Secretary General’s report has documented incidents of rape, sexual violence, prolonged forced nudity and repeated strip searches inflicted in degrading ways.
Referring to the human rights violations in IIOJK, he said that there is documented evidence of Indian occupation forces using rape as a means of targeting women – who demand self-determination, or support and sympathize with those struggling for their inalienable right that has been guaranteed to them – by this Council in its multiple resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
He referred to the 2018 and 2019 reports of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as by international media, civil society and international human rights organizations and stated that this ongoing violence and abuse has been corroborated over the years.
He said that according to one recent report, close to 10,000 women and girls have gone missing in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir between 2019 and 2021 alone. “We, therefore, call on the SRSG to also pay attention to this situation,” he demanded.
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