Unprecedented decision by the Health ministry to print new pictorial health warning on 85 percent of cigarette pack on both sides has irked retailers in the country. President of All Pakistan Retailers Association Haji Muhammad Mobeen Yousuf Butt on behalf of retailers has written a letter to Health Minister Saira Afzal Tarar to fix a meeting as a delegation of retailers want to discuss this matter with him.
He said that this new size of pictorial health warning would indirectly criminalise legitimate trade in cigarette and would result in an increase in demand of smuggled illegal cigarettes packs as consumer would not want to buy packets with such health warnings.
Small retailers mentioned in the letter that, "We would be forced to sell illegal cigarettes packets in the country as we would have no other choice. This new measure will put us at risk and out of business." The letter points out that there are already established routes for the entry of smuggled cigarettes in the country. The Federal Board of Revenue has already been working hard to curb the sale of smuggled cigarettes but still the FBR suffers a loss of 20 billion rupees per annum due to smuggled cigarettes.
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