Pakistan: a hard and lonely struggle for the resistance

As recent editions of Tobacco Control have illustrated, Pakistan has become an adventure playground for young tobacco advertisers. The country has, of course, a long history of cigarette smoking, directly attributable to the strong cigarette industry fostered by its former colonial rulers, the UK. Like so many developing countries, Pakistan now lives under a different form of colonialism, with BAT and other tobacco companies, including some local imitators, greedily exploiting its large population of male smokers, and drooling at the prospect of eventually doubling their sales by recruiting the traditionally non-smoking female population.

Twenty years ago there was little sophisticated promotion and it was largely restricted to the cities. Now, not only the use of cigarettes but their promotion, too, has become much more widespread, even reaching some of the most remote and rugged areas of this large country. The Lakson Tobacco Company, a local cigarette manufacturer, has not been slow to learn the tricks of the international invaders. …