Srinagar, May 31 -- Kashmir is seeing a slow surge in tobacco use, especially among the youth. You can spot it outside colleges, in narrow alleys, behind shuttered shops. According to government data, over 20% of adults in J&K use tobacco in some form. The number is rising, and so are hospital visits for chest pain, breathlessness, and cancer.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. Every year, over 8 million people die due to tobacco, including more than a million who never smoked but were exposed to secondhand smoke. In Kashmir's close-knit homes and shared spaces, that risk is even higher.

It's not just lungs. Tobacco damages the heart, weakens immunity, worsens diabetes, and harms unborn babies. At Srinagar's...