Pakistan

UK High Commissioner accused of lobbying for cigarette companies in Pakistan

Barton reportedely tried to convince govt to drop plan to print larger pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs

Web Desk April 20, 2015

British High Commissioner Philip Barton. PHOTO: PID

British High Commissioner to Pakistan Philip Barton, the UK’s top most diplomat in the country, broke UK government rules by attending a meeting at which British American Tobacco (BAT), the parent company of Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC), lobbied Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Minister of State for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar.

Since the March 13 meeting, Barton has drawn harsh criticism from campaigners and medical experts in the UK for attending the meeting at which BAT tried to convince Dar and Tarar to drop the government’s plan to print larger pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs.

Read: Lured by revenues’ argument, Dar forms committee

“It is morally incoherent to advance tobacco control at home but oppose measures in other countries intended to reduce the burden of this lethal habit,” Dr Nick Hopkinson, a lecturer at the UK’s National Heart and Lung Institute told The Financial Times.

The guidelines were announced by the Ministry of National Health Services and Regulation in early February and were supposed to take effect from March 31 but have been delayed until May 31, according to the Financial Times.

Read: Progress report: Islamabad yet to become smoke-free

Pictures taken at the meeting show Barton sitting next to BAT senior executive Donato Del Vecchio, while Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Minister of State for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar sat on the other side of the table.

PHOTO: PID

The British Foreign Office later insisted that Barton was not lobbying on behalf of BAT and that he attended the meeting to help push attempts to combat counterfeit packaging. “At no point did the High Commissioner lobby the Government of Pakistan on the issue of health warnings,” a spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office later told Reuters.

This story originally appeared in the Financial Times

COMMENTS (8)

raider | 9 years ago | Reply @True Pakistani: passionate, how dare you to eat poisons in every food items of Pakistani markets prepared under highly unhygienic conditions

raider | 9 years ago | Reply @OBSERVER: yes all angels amassed in plmn, only party with clean politicians , thank you for information, i @bewildered sometime how peoples talk and pinpoint things even happening in their homes

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Asad | 9 years ago | Reply Too often government responds to the whispers of lobbyists before the cries of the people. Andrew Cuomo

True Pakistani | 9 years ago | Reply We should ban foreign companies from selling cigarettes in Pakistan. Why should foreign powers be allowed to kill Pakistani citizens with their poison?

OBSERVER | 9 years ago | Reply It will benefit PTI majority of big tobacco smuggler are from KP...one of the senator from KP elected on PTI ticket is big cigarettes smuggler

Mohsin Raza Khan | 9 years ago | Reply If he did lobby for big tobacco he should first look towards his own country who enforce the printing of vivid cancerous pictures on their cigarette packets. These images may not deter die hard smokers from using tobacco related products, but they do act as a warning

Salah | 9 years ago | Reply And Eshaq Daar was humbled by such request by such a high official from UK. He promised not to print any pictorial message on cigarette packs. He also confirmed that he wiĺl advocate for printing Pakistan's national flower on the pack as a goodwill gesture.

Hassan | 9 years ago | Reply Barton was attending the meeting just to make sure all arrangements including tea, coffee and other snacks were done properly for distinguished guests.

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