Amendment passed to bring K-P Assembly under RTI legislation

PESHAWAR: The much-anticipated amendment to the K-P Right to Information Act 2015 was passed in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly members on Thursday.

Before this amendment was introduced, K-P assembly, its members and the assembly secretariat were not included within the remit of the RTI legislation. The amendment brought it back under the RTI law, making the assembly accountable to the public.

MPA Shaukat Yousufzai presented the amendment through a bill, which was tabled two days back in the house, and passed with majority by the opposition and treasury benches. The opposition and treasury both raised their hands in support of the amendment.

Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nighat Orakzai was the only one who raised an objection to the bill.

According to Orakzai, the public should not be allowed to ask about the assembly matters. “The amendment was tabled at the assembly only because Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan wanted it that way,” she said. “It was not done in the interest of public at all.”

However, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha and Sardar Hussain Babak of Awami National Party spoke in favour of the amendment.

“I thank Imran for his order to bring in the amendment,” Babak said. “The amendments and legislations should not be bulldozed in the house.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th,  2015.