Barring access: Civil society picks holes in Punjab bill

Says freedom of information bill is full of exemptions and wants the draft reviewed.

LAHORE:

Civil society has criticised the Punjab Freedom of Information Bill-2013 for disabling people from exercising this right by inserting exemptions in the draft.

Representatives of civil society organisations reviewed the proposed bill at a consultation jointly organised by the Punjab Lok Sujag and UNDP- Pakistan the other day.

The proposed draft is overwhelmed by disabling clauses in relation to citizen’s right to information, participants said.

The proposed law tactfully denied the spirit of Article 19(A) of the Constitution, which states, that every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.

They urged the lawmakers to screen the draft within the ambit of Article 19(A), revisit and improve before making it a piece of legislation in the Punjab Assembly.

They also demanded protection for the whistleblowers and a time period for declassifying the information held by the government.

Exemptions

The overstretched area of ‘exemptions’ in the disclosure of information was noted as the major disabler as some of the exemptions proposed in the law do not meet the standards of openness and transparent governance.  It was indicated that sometimes even information related to early warning on disasters is concealed on the pretext of panic flight and maintenance of “public order”.

Participants also observed that the list of exemption is too long, vague and generalized. Umbrella terms like ‘national defence and security’, ‘International relations’, ‘legally privileged information’, ‘legitimate commercial interests’, ‘ability to manage economy’ and other such terms have the potential of misuse in almost all situations.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2013.