Member National Assembly Dr Nausheen Hamid of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf told a seminar in Islamabad on Tuesday that smoking in women is one of the leading causes of increasing divorce rates in Pakistan.

“Women smokers who get married end up divorced because they are not accepted by their in-laws,” she said.

The session was about the use of tobacco in which she claimed the number of women smokers has dramatically increased in the past few years. According to the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for health, two out of five people who smoke are women.

“This leads to a number of social problems for both the smokers and their families. I personally know such women,” said Dr Hamid.

A survey conducted by Gallup and Gilani, 58% of Pakistanis believe that divorce rates in Pakistan have increased.

It isn’t just Dr Hamid who’s trying to make sense of the survey by speculating reasons behind the rise of divorce rates in the country, Pakistani Twitterati is also curious as to why this is happening.

“According to you, what’s the reason?” one user posed a question.

“Men have always been intolerant, now women just refuse to remain quiet about all the misery,” responded another user.

“When men can’t tolerate women who know their rights, this is what happens,” said Twitter user BlueMoon.

“we’re ridding ourselves of the ‘log kya kahenge’ mindset,” said a tweet.

Most users believe that it’s a refreshing trend and it’s good to see that women are starting to become more than just “marriageable assets,” others aren’t so happy with the situation.

One user blames “feminism” for the increasing divorce rate.

Another said it’s because “expectations are at a all time high and tolerance is low.”

This user believes that it’s the influence of western culture that’s increasing divorce rates.

They’re not alone to think that. PM Imran Khan also believes that western culture has “harmful effects” on “Pakistan’s Family System.”