While speaking at a workshop on right to information (RTI) laws, especially in Sindh and Balochistan, they said that inflexible procedural demands and blanket exclusions, exemptions and exceptions must not retard the spirit of the laws.
The session was organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) here on Saturday.
The speakers highlighted challenges in implementation of the RTI laws and exclusions in the 2002 federal RTI law and near mirror legislations in Balochistan and Sindh.
It was urged that a list of minimum possible exceptions should be prepared and not only should citizens be facilitated to access all other information but proactive disclosure of information should also be ensured.
The participants said that the right to information belonged to the citizens and not just to journalists or NGOs and the masses should be educated about the right.
They said that hurdles in accessing information under the RTI regime emanated from a culture of secrecy. They said that keeping information from citizens through exclusions, exemptions and exceptions bred corruption and there should a clear departure from the practice under the new information regime.
They said that the RTI laws contribute to transparency, accountability and responsive governance.
The speakers recommended that the provinces, especially Sindh and Balochistan, should redraft or amend their RTI laws in order to benefit from the improvements in the information laws introduced in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
A mechanism should also be developed to exchange best practices and benefit from each others’ experience.
“It was imperative to repeal the prevailing outdated laws that focused on keeping information from the people.” Civil servants must be trained and reoriented to engage with the citizens with a view to facilitate information access rather than impeding it, they recommended.
The also called upon the intelligentsia, media, bar associations, politicians and civil society join hands to mobilise people about the benefits that the RTI regime offered.
“The RTI laws should be translated into regional languages and published for general public. Imaginative advocacy tools, including radio programmes and street theatre, should be considered to mobilise the people.”
It was also stressed that partnerships should be forged with cell phone companies and electronic media to educate people, especially in rural and remote areas and the right to information should be made part of the higher education curriculum. Access to information through official websites of public departments should be promoted to discourage wastage of money and time.
They also said that overly generous time limits for providing the information should be curtailed and penalties should be introduced against officials acting in contravention of the spirit of the RTI laws. “Management of record should be improved and information about public departments computerised and made available online. The judiciary must also be brought under the purview of RTI laws.”
Information department press officers should serve as RTI officers and their capacity should be enhanced.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2014.
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