ISLAMABAD: There was almost a consensus on Wednesday among members of the Senate Select Committee on Right to Information (RTI) law that no institution or entity — including parliament, judiciary, military and even the private bodies receiving public funds — should be exempted from the law as people had the right to know about every development taking place at the national level.

The members of the newly-formed committee which met under the chairmanship of Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Farhatullah Babar here carried out clause-by-clause review of the two RTI bills — one drafted by a government committee and the other already passed by the Senate Committee on Information and later tabled by the opposition members in the upper house of parliament in November.

The committee members agreed to work for a realistic and “consensus” definition of “national security” in the name of which information is often withheld even from parliament, and decided that the government and all the members would come up with their proposed formulations at their meeting next week.

Committee to come up with clear definition of ‘national security’

Mr Babar stressed the need for a clear definition of terms like “national secret”, “national security” and “agents of enemies” which were being frequently used to deny information. “The time has come to make a final decision in this regard,” he said.

Quoting examples from the past, Senator Babar said that no one knew if any inquiry had at all been conducted into the Kargil incident of 1999. He said that when the same question was asked in the Senate, the house was informed that a reply could not be given due to the secret and sensitive nature of the issue related to national security.

Similarly, he said, unlike other government employees and the parliamentarians, the details of the assets of the army officers, which they submitted to the General Headquarters. were not provided to the citizens.

Mr Babar said that being a citizen of Pakistan it was his right to know about the procedure adopted for purchase of weapons and other defence equipment. Similarly, he said, it was the right of the people to know from where these purchases had been made and what price had been paid for them.

Senator Babar regretted that the people lost their right to have access to information when even a section officer simply wrote the word “classified” on a document or file. Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb drew the attention of the members to the Official Secret Act of 1923, saying that the law prohibited access to information on matters related to national security, defence and international relations. She said parliament had complete constitutional right to carry out any legislation, but there was a need to look into the act as well.

Mr Babar said the act had already become “outdated” and a provision could be included in the proposed RTI law to override the effects of the act, if needed.

Former information minister Pervaiz Rasheed supported the members’ call for making the RTI a strong and powerful law. He said the country’s airbases were handed over to another country in the past, but no one knew as to who had given permission for it.

Syed Muzaffar Shah of the PML-F also said that no institution should be exempted from the ambit of the law.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2017