CDA panned for tobacco firm MoU

ISLAMABAD: A group of activists have panned the CDA for signing an agreement with a tobacco company for tree plantation.  The Coalition for Tobacco Control-Pakistan (CTC-Pak) National Coordinator Khurram Hashmi on Tuesday urged the Islamabad Mayor and CDA Chairman Shiekh Anser Aziz to call off the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the CDA, the Islamabad Municipal Corporation (IMC) and a tobacco firm. He said that the agreement for tree plantation as a corporate social responsibility activity was distinctly against the spirit of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and tarnished the tireless efforts of tobacco civil society organizations and the Ministry of Health. He said Pakistan had signed the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2004 under which the government would not sign any accord or agreement with any public or private firm which hampers tobacco control activities in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2017.