Right to information: K-P’s law judged ahead of other provinces

PFIO 2002 at the centre has yet to be replaced by an act

ISLAMABAD:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government’s right to information and freedom of information laws and their implementation were judged ahead of the other provinces as well as the federal government, in an assessment report launched here on Tuesday.

The report was launched here at an event, organised by the Pakistan Institute of legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat).

The report, “Pildat RTI Scorecard: Right to information legislation and implementation in Pakistan at federal and provincial levels” is prepared under Pildat’s Enhanced Democratic Accountability and Civic Engagement Project.



The report assigned K-P’s Right to Information Act, 2013 and Right to Information Commission (RTIC) top score of 73 per cent.

Punjab’s Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013 and the Punjab Information Commission (PIC) secured second place with the score of 65 per cent, Balochistan’s Freedom of Information Act, 2005 and the provincial government of Balochistan secured third position with 29 per cent; whereas the Pakistan Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002 (PFIO) and the federal government ranked fourth with a score of 26 per cent.



Sindh’s Freedom of Information Act, 2006 and the provincial government of Sindh secured the lowest position in the overall rankings with a score of just 24 per cent.



The event was attended by lawmakers and media persons.

National Assembly member belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Saman Sultana Jafri said that younger parliamentarians took a lot of interest in the law. She blamed senior lawmakers for not giving much importance to the law.

PTI MNA Sheheryar Afridi lamented lack of transparency within the legislature, which he hoped would be strengthened by passage of a Federal RTI law.

Senator Hasil Khan Bizenjo reiterated the need for members of parliament to give greater priority to transparency and public accountability, in addition to highlighting the need for a robust RTI law at the federal level.

Implementation of the FIO at the federal level and within Sindh and Balochistan was marred because their governments, unlike K-P and Punjab, have yet to establish dedicated agencies, which have been allocated resources exclusively for coordinating, implementing and addressing complaints against non- implementation.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2016.