KARACHI
Increasing number of cafes for shisha smoking has become a menace for the future of youth especially students.
Most of the cafes promoting a culture of shisha smoking have been opened in classy parts of the city, including Clifton, DHA, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Johar. It is a fact that about 5 million people lost their lives due to the tobacco-related diseases in the world in 2005. If the current smoking pattern continues, the death toll could rise to 10 million by 2020.
According a survey conducted by TheNation, a shisha centre situated in Khurrum Arcade-Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block-7, has really become a serious threat to the health of students of private schools, colleges and Universities level. The centre remains full of male and female students, using shisha smoking. The shisha cafes offer different flavours of smoking like Double Apple, Blue Mist, Green Sea etc.
However, free visits of students to these shisha cafes show the government is least concerned with the future of Pakistani youth hence; these centres are being run under the support of the area police station.
A large number of private schools and Government Gulshan-e-Iqbal Degree College are located in the said block of Gulshan Town. The University of Karachi, NED Engineering University, Usman Institute of Technology and many others educational institutes are also located near to this block.
According to a study on ‘Shisha Use in Karachi's Educated Youth,’ conduced by Aga Khan University, under the supervision of Dr Javaid A Khan, Consultant Chest Physician at AKUH, around 54 per cent students of different higher education institutions of the city used to visit shisha cafes for smoking. The study reveals that about 45 per cent students had at least smoked shisha once. "Among them who have at least once smoked shisha, there are 43 percent male and 33 percent female students.
When contacted, Director Private Schools Directorate Rafia Mallah said the directorate has formed a committee over the issue. She said her department with the help of other authorities concerned would take action against such cafes.
In Pakistan, prevalence of smoking in 2002 was 40 percent among males and 8 percent among female. Tobacco smoke contained over 4,700 chemicals in the form of particles and gases, which included over 50 carcinogens (cancer causing substances). Those who smoke 20 cigarettes a day are 25 times more likely to die of lung cancer as compared to non-smokers.