PESHAWAR: Senior vice-president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Agriculture Fazal Elahi Khan has strongly opposed the KP Prohibition of Tobacco and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Bill, 2016 and said that the enactment of the proposed law could threaten the future of thousands of tobacco growers.

In a press statement issued here on Thursday, he urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to refrain from the legislation of any such law without consulting the growers. He criticised the provincial government for allegedly snatching livelihood from the poor without holding consultations with them.

Mr Khan expressed his surprise over such restrictions included in the proposed bill that were not even enacted by the federal government. He was of the view that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had already suffered heavy losses due to terrorism and now they were confronting the ‘cruelty’ of bureaucracy.

He demanded of the provincial government to withhold the proposed bill and start consultation process with the relevant people over it as unilateral decisions could create problems both for government and the farmers.

He said that it was duty of the government to take decisions for supporting farmers so as to bring change in the fate of poor people.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2016