Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday summoned Additional Secretary Health Sindh in a petition, seeking ban on smoking. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar issued the notice to provincial health official after petitioner Dr Javed Khan submitted in the court that laws exist to ban smoking, however these are not being implemented.

The petitioner stated that smoking kills approximately 160,000 people annually in the country and added that tobacco smoking is giving rise to cardiac and cancer diseases in the country. He informed the court that smoking is causing ninety percent cancer disease in the country and said that children can easily buy the cigarettes from the shops.

The petitioner also requested the court to declare the educational institutions "smoking free zone". Meanwhile, SHC bench upheld the sentence of convicts in kidnapping for ransom case after an appeal was filed against the verdict of anti-terrorism court.

Lower court awarded life imprisonment to three convicts namely Sohail, Jamshed and Peer Muhmmad for kidnapping a person in Ittehad Town area of Karachi for ransom. The court ruled that it can't declare the verdict of lower court null and void as the crime of the convicts was unpardonable.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019