According to research, one out of every five cigarettes smoked in Pakistan is illegal
World Health Organization (WHO) with his signatory partners, including Pakistan, will celebrate the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on Sunday (today), calling on countries to work together to end the illicit trade of tobacco products.
Every year, on May 31, WHO and its partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. This year the WHO is focusing on means to counter illicit trade of tobacco.
According to different international researches, Pakistan is facing a huge financial loss to the national exchequer due to the illicit trade of tobacco products. The sale of counterfeit, low price brands and smuggled cigarettes is rapidly gripping the domestic market, causing heavy loss to the exchequer in Pakistan.
According to researches, one out of every five cigarettes sold in Pakistan is illicit and is either been manufactured in Pakistan without paying appropriate taxes or smuggled into Pakistan. Available data shows that due to illicit trade in cigarette industry, Pakistan has faced financial loss of Rs 16 billion in 2009, Rs 17 billion in 2010, Rs 18 billion in 2011, Rs 19 billion in 2012, Rs 20 billion in 2013, Rs 21 billion in 2014. If such trends continuous, it is expected that Pakistan will bear a financial loss of Rs 100 billion in next five years.
According to experts, foreign smuggled brands are smuggled in Pakistan through porous borders of Afghanistan, Iran and then transported to every corner of the country.
An interesting aspect about smuggled brand is that in Pakistan, it is mandatory to print pictorial health warning on every cigarette pack. However, these smuggled brands are available at each shop without mandatory pictorial health warning, which are clear violations of Pakistan’s law.
Illicit cigarette trade is also promoting illegal activities such as, domestic tax evasion, counterfeiting and cross border smuggling on the one hand and was creating complex problems for the government, legitimate industry players, and society at large on the other. As these smuggled cigarettes are cheap in prices due to non-payment of taxes, youth is also easily attracted towards these brands.
Experts believed that policy makers must recognise that the illicit tobacco trade not only exacerbates the global tobacco epidemic and its related health consequences, but that it has security implications through financing organized crime, including drugs, human and arms trafficking, as well as terrorism.
One of the social activists, Dr Romana Shireen was of the view that there is a strong need to raise awareness on the harm to people’s health caused by the illicit trade in tobacco products, especially the youth and low-income groups, due to the increased accessibility and affordability of these products due to their lower costs.
