IHC orders crackdown on illegal shisha cafés

The report records 89 cases registered between January 1 and September 7, 2026, involving 282 suspects.Hearing a petition against shisha cafés operating without NOCs, the chief justice questioned whether the government had formulated rules to regulate these establishments.

He said the court had previously directed the authorities to allow only cafés operating in accordance with the law, but its order had been misinterpreted.The chief commissioner, deputy commissioner, IGP, Prosecutor General Manzoor Jhajja, Advocate General Naveed Malik and Deputy Attorney General Arshad Kayani appeared before the court following directions for their immediate attendance.During the proceedings, the government counsel informed the court that draft rules for shisha cafés had been….

However, he stressed that the authorities needed to establish whether existing establishments were complying with the applicable requirements."If we keep granting extensions, young people will continue using shisha," the chief justice observed, adding that children were being introduced to the habit and that such activities could not be allowed to continue indefinitely.He said the cafés could be temporarily closed until the rules were finalised and a decision taken on their….

If the government failed to formulate the regulations, he added, it should introduce its own standard operating procedures (SOPs).The Prosecutor General informed the court that the Supreme Court had imposed a ban on shisha cafés in a suo motu case.

The petitioner's counsel suggested that keeping the establishments closed for 15 to 20 days would provide sufficient time to finalise the rules.

IHC orders crackdown on illegal shisha cafés Fiaz Mahmood | Updated 13 minutes ago | Court seeks affidavits to stop illegal operations; govt's regulations await approval.

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