ISLAMABAD: Speaking at a briefing session for parliament members, Senator Farhatullah Babar called Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid ‘powerless’, and said that it seemed like another “Mr. or Ms. is controlling the ministry”.

“Pervaiz Rashid keeps promising that a bill will be passed in the next cabinet meeting, and then says it will be approved later,” he added.

The briefing session, titled ‘Right to Information Legislation in Pakistan’, was organised by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat).

“I believe that some other person has the information minister portfolio, and doesn’t want to give credit to Mr Rashid,” he said.

Babar also suggested that the government may be delaying Right to Information (RTI) legislation to the end of their term in order to leave the next government with the law’s implementation.

Babar informed the participants that when the draft of the bill was sent to the standing committee, the bill stated that it would be functional following government notification. “I raised that point, due to which it was removed, and was told it was just an error,” he said.

He said that the draft’s preparation was a lengthy process, and that if it is delayed due to amendments, the process could take another four to five years.

He also discussed the hurdles facing the right to information bill, particularly the lack of cooperation by the defence ministry.

“We have always stressed that there is a difference between strategically important information, and information on something like housing colonies for armed forces officials,” Babar said.

“The Senate standing committee on information was sent a written response from the defence ministry which stated that the drafting of the right to information bill will be suspended until a no-objection certificate (NOC) is issued by the defence ministry. It also said that the NOC would be issued when appropriate,” he said.

He said that the bill finalised by the Senate committee requires the relevant departments to provide written reasons for why certain information is classified.

The draft bill is currently at the Cabinet Division, waiting to be presented to the cabinet meeting for almost 14 months.

Member National Assembly (MNA) Ali Muhammad Khan from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said that instead of focusing only on the defence sector, more attention should be given to getting information from civil departments, such as those in the energy sector.

Babar said that if the government was uninterested in getting the right to information bill approved, the other option is to convert the draft into a private member bill.

“However, such a move could upset the government, which may try to delay it deliberately. We have instead decided to meet with the Prime Minister and request that he get the bill approved by cabinet soon,” he said.

Punjab information commissioner Mukhtar Ahmed Ali said earlier that information had always been hidden from people because there was a huge difference between people and their rulers.

“During the colonial era, although the British had right to information legislation in the United Kingdom, they did not introduce it in the subcontinent. When Pakistan came into being, right to information legislation was also not introduced,” he said.

“In the 1990s a bill regarding the right to information was tabled by Prof Khurshid Ahmed but it was not passed. In 1997, an attempt was made to promulgate the law through an ordinance, but was unsuccessful,” he added.

He said that in 2002, President Pervez Musharaf created a right to information law, but was toothless.

“A good law was passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government in 2013, as well as by the Punjab government,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2015

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