Sensitization session with politicians

<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">A sensitization session with politicians and members of provincial assembly of the largest province Punjab was organized in provincial capital Lahore on Friday, August 16, 2013. Provincial Assembly Punjab Ms. Rukhsana Kokab, Mr. Kanji Ram, Mr. Shakeel Ivan, Mr. Shahbaz Akmal,Mr. Tariq Gill, Baigum Nasreen Nawaz, Farzana Butt, Dr. Farzana Nazir, Ms. Fouzia Ayub Qureshi attended the session along with other local politicians from different political parties, civil society organisations, government officials and lawyers from Lahore Bar Association and pledge strong support for tobacco control. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">TheNetwork shared the findings of its monitoring of TAPS and POS advertising in Lahore. Point of Sale (POS) advertisement&nbsp;in Lahore district is observed at 68% of the tobacco&nbsp;retail places,&nbsp;69% POS are using &ldquo;Power walls and Fascia&rdquo; for tobacco advertising, beneficiary schemes for retailers observed at 9% of&nbsp;monitored POS . Further, only 7.75% tobacco retailers were selling tobacco with valid license while 52% of the retailers are selling tobacco products to minors, which is clear violation of tobacco control laws.</span></p>