The world celebrated press freedom day last week. In Pakistan too politicians oft speak of giving the press the necessary freedom needed to operate in an effective manner to help ensure smooth functioning of democracy. But can press freedom be really effective in the absence of an effectively implemented right to information (RTI)?
To this date, the federal government is sitting on a draft RTI law. It has been more than year since it was formulated.
The delay in rolling that out comes despite the fact that PML-N's manifesto promised the people of Pakistan that if elected, their government would give the people their right to information granted under article 19A of the country's constitution.
Elsewhere in the country the situation is also not so impressive. While this column has frequently covered the shortcomings in the implementation of RTI laws in KP and Punjab, at this point it is pertinent to highlight that Balochistan and Sindh governments are yet to replace their Freedom of Information Act 2005 and 2006 respectively, with an RTI law that is in line with current international standards.
There has been little progress in the drafting of RTI law in Balochistan, whereas in the case of Sindh, the draft law has been made but it is replete with some serious flaws.
The Islamabad-based Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) highlights how Sindh's draft RTI law suffers from a wide exemption list, absence of time-frame to decide complaints, and a limited scope of proactive disclosure of information. Sindh's draft RTI law also lacks a provision that it will not take precedence over other laws, nor does it have explicit provisions pertaining to the inspection of documents as is the case in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act 2013 and the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013.
If indeed Pakistan's federal and provincial governments are serious about press freedom then they must ensure effectively implemented RTI laws in their respective domains, for press freedom cannot exist in an information blackout.
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