Pakistan, June 1 -- Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has urged citizens to quit smoking and adopt a healthy lifestyle, describing tobacco use as a serious threat to public health and a major cause of preventable diseases and deaths.

In her message on the occasion of World No-Tobacco Day, she said tobacco consumption could prove more dangerous than many deadly diseases and termed it a menace worse than an epidemic. She said every puff of tobacco was a step towards a new illness.

The CM said smoking was not merely a habit but amounted to a self-destructive attack on one's health, economic well-being and social life. She added that more than 250,000 deaths linked to tobacco use in the country were alarming and deeply painful.

CM ...