Lahore High Court bans Sheesha in Lahore

In what appeared to be a praiseworthy move, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday directed the government to impose complete ban on Sheesha (Hookah) Cafes and smoking in public places.

Although people have reservations, majority of them favor an end to lighting up in public places

The chief justice released the order on a petition moved by an owner of Sheesha cafe, seeking order to de-seal his cafe closed by the City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) during anti-Sheesha drive.

LHC Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandyal also instructed the government bodies to take action against the violators.

During the hearing on Monday, Lahore District Coordination Officer (DCO) Noorul Amin in his reply to the court said that there was a ban on cigarette smoking in public places, including that all the locations except home are the public places.

The DCO informed the court, “The cafes are using drugs in the name of Sheesha.”

The chief justice ordered the government to apply the anti-smoking law and enforced ban on the Sheesha cafes and cigarette smoking in public places.

The City District Government Lahore (CDGL), Health Department, Anti-Narcotics Force, Punjab Environment Department and Capital City Police recently initiated a joint venture against Sheesha cafes in the city and sealed some of the leading centers.

Earlier, Society of Alternative Media and Research informed the court that the young generation is suffering from immoral activities under the Sheesha.

It said as the smoking is banned at all public places, cafes and restaurants, no Sheesha facility can be provided at any cafe. Sheesha is also causing different diseases among the youngsters.

Research has shown that an hour-long Sheesha session could be equivalent to smoking up to 200 cigarettes. Besides Sheesha has nicotine and can be as addictive as smoking a cigarette.

But care-a-damn youngsters are not deterred and parental indulgence — most see it as a lesser evil to smoking, drugs and alcohol — have only helped popularize Sheesha -smoking.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Oct 22 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.