Sri Lanka: BAT and the influence game
As members of the south Asian diaspora around the world celebrated the 60th anniversary of the partition of India, the creation of Pakistan and the independence of the two countries from their former colonial rulers, some in the region had cause to ponder how little some things had changed. In another former British colony just to the south, tobacco control advocates saw how the future health of their people continued to be jeopardised by the activities of a transnational tobacco company based in the UK. Moreover, they noted just how similar its tactics remained to those used for generations back in “the old country” for fostering influence with the government. Even if the “old boy” network had faded a bit at home, it appeared …
