A bad influence

We watch these days a politician handcuffed and smoking a cigar on television channels while in police custody. He is under arrest for the last few days for remarks against a former president, accusing him of hatching a ‘murder plot’ to eliminate an opposition leader.

He is a senior politician, but I am surprised to watch him smoking cigars in public outside courts when he is brought there for hearing. What lesson is a cigar-smoking senior politician giving to the young generation? Certainly not a good one because smoking is bad for health, and a senior politician like him must not smoke publicly.

Moreover, smoking in public harms the image of a public leader. I suggest all politicians should stop smoking cigars at least in public for their own good and for the good of the young generation.

EJAZ AHMAD MAGOON

DOHA, QATAR