After being denied funds from global community Pakistan sought support from Tobacco company to boost staggering economy
   03-May-2019

 Pak PM Imran Khan anti-tobacco activist (Left); Pak PM Imran Khan receives a cheque of Rs5 million from Guy Meldrum, regional director of the British American Tobacco (Right)
 
Prime Minister Imran Khan received a cheque of Rs5 million from Guy Meldrum, regional director of the British American Tobacco, for the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund at PM Office on Tuesday. It was done in clear violation of Article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) though Pakistan is a signatory to it. The Article of FCTC says that government representatives cannot meet and receive funds from tobacco companies even under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities as it is also a way of advertising. Tobacco is one of the leading causes of death in Pakistan yet Pakistan Prime Minister accepted the cheque from a Tobacco company.

 
 
 
Pak PM is an anti-tobacco advocate and runs a cancer hospital
 
This move is surprising because Imran Khan has been an anti-tobacco advocate for long and is running a cancer hospital viz. “Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Peshawar” yet he has received a donation from an organisation which is responsible for causing cancer. Hence, he has been criticized by the people of his own country.
 
Pak signed FCTC in 2004
 
The government of Pakistan signed the FCTC in May 2004 and ratified it the same year. The FCTC is the first international treaty to provide a framework (and attendant obligations) for tobacco regulations.