NBF Declares Its Islamabad Office As Tobacco Smoke Free Zone

National Book Foundation (NBF) has declared its office in capital as tobacco smoke free zone following the `Tobacco-Smoke Free Zone' campaign of Capital Administration and Development Division (CA&DD

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Oct, 2017 ) :National Book Foundation (NBF) has declared its office in capital as tobacco smoke free zone following the `Tobacco-Smoke Free Zone' campaign of Capital Administration and Development Division (CA&DD).

Talking to APP, Managing Director, NBF, Dr. Inam-ul-Haq Javed said CA&DD has taken an initiative of creating �Tobacco- Smoke-Free Islamabad� which would help end Tobacco epidemic in capital.

NBF has been given an opportunity of creating Tobacco-smoke free facility zone in this drive. He said no one can deny quitting smoking is a difficult task however there is no other way except quitting this in your own interest.

He assured NBF close cooperation with any government functionary particularly with CA&DD who has been embarking upon this noble cause of making our environment smoke free. A one day orientation session was arranged at NBF in collaboration with CA&DD as a part of its ongoing Tobacco Smoke-Free Zone campaign the other day.

Federal Secretary of National History and Literary Heritage Division (NH&LH), Engineer Aamir Hasan was chief guest on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, he said Pakistan is striving hard to make the Tobacco-Smoke free its territories, particularly, Islamabad.

We have started efforts to realize the dream of Tobacco-Smoke Free Pakistan from our homes. �Tobacco is a social sector horrible evil and we should save our generations from it by adopting concrete measures at all level as it is threaten us all,� he said.

He advised to quit tobacco and especially smoking from today once and for all.

�No matter how you smoke it, tobacco is very dangerous to your health, affects the entire body system and there are no safe substances in any tobacco products�, he said.

This orientation session was organized under the World Health Organization (WHO) theme of this year as, �Tobacco-a Threat to Development�. A large number of writers, scholars, NBF Book Ambassadors and people from all walks of life attended this valuable enlightening event.

Dr, Minhaj us Siraj, the Project Director as focal person for implementation of tobacco control laws and Syed Jawad Muzaffar, Additional Deputy Commissioner, also spoke on the occasion. They said around six million people are dying each year globally and more than six lac among them through second-hand smoke.

They explained nearly 80% of these preventable deaths belong to under-developed countries. While 274 deaths occurred per day with about one lac per year due to tobacco use in Pakistan which seems very alarming rate of deaths.

They said that we should take concrete steps to control this tobacco hazards with collective efforts. Muhammad Aftab Ahmad, Project Manager conducted this useful and informative session on Tobacco Control.

It was proposed that NBF must publish written books on this important topic which will be a source of first hand information for all and sundry. NBF Head Office, Islamabad was declared as Tobacco-Smoke Free Zone with installation of an inauguration plate.