Way back in 1993, the UK government issued a White Paper declaring that it was the government's "commitment to make government in the United Kingdom more open and accountable." Public interest is involved in both disclosure and confidentiality of information which needs to be subtly balanced by devising suitable policies and legislation. Countries like Sweden had introduced this right in 18th century while in recent years, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA have joined the rank. In India, Aruna Roy, a prominent founder and member of the movement Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), actively campaigned for right to information in India. The movement has been credited for getting Right to Information laws passed in several States, including the Rajasthan Right to Information Act passed in the year 2000. The RTI movement and campaign also played a crucial role in the passage of strong national legislation for the RTI in the year 2005.
In an interview, Aruna Roy said, "The pity is that there is no accountability in the present system of governance. All human rights depend on the basic right to know, to demand accountability. In India, the feudal social fabric has exploited the formal democratic system to its advantage because the literate are too busy building careers and empires to bother about social inadequacies. That's why RTI has a widespread appeal for everyone". She added that "every citizen of the state has a fundamental right to say: You are spending my money. Render me the accounts. But most people are unaware of this power and suffer as a result their inaction and ignorance." These observations hold true for the prevailing situation in Pakistan as well. What we need to do is explaining by Aruna: "We need to take legislation to the people and policy can't be framed without the consent of the people. In a democracy no policy can be formed without a public debate". She quoted Bolivian President Evo Morales: "There is the Left, there is the Right and then there are the people. Without taking the people into confidence and without their consent no democratic government can claim to establish successful governance. In other words, whatever the government does should be made public so that the electorate can scrutinize acts of their representatives holding them both responsible and accountable".
The starting point of across the board accountability in Pakistan should be making public, declarations of assets, liabilities, incomes and taxes of high-ranking civil and military officials and judges. Judges hold politicians and others accountable so they must demonstrate to the masses that their hands are clean. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, who is actively pursuing issues of public importance under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, must not be unaware of the developments in India in this direction. One hopes, he would soon order public disclosure of assets by all honourable judges and ensure their placement at the official website of Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Bar Association should also raise this issue that is essential for accountability of Bench. The public disclosures of assets by judges will also counter the arguments of Nawaz et al as to why politicians alone are subjected to scrutiny for their wealth accretion and financial matters.
In Pakistan we have laws for in-house declaration of assets and liabilities by government servants, but the common man cannot get details invoking Right of Access to Information Act, 2017 and provincial laws in the case of public servants serving under provinces. In these declarations, the present value of the property and how they were acquired are seldom revealed. These, along with tax declarations of public servants, should be made public. The same should be for the judges. In India, there was sharp criticism over asset disclosures of the judges and their spouses. It was demanded that information about the assets of other close relatives, like sons and daughters, was also important as close and large family nexuses exist. The declarations, made under an Indian Supreme Court resolution of May, 1997, were only in partial conformity with the requirements laid down. That declaration, in fact, underlined the need for a law that should require disclosure mandatory and open to the public, giving detail of assets to be declared, how the disclosure was to be made and who should come under its purview. The civil society and media in India demanded that it should also specify the consequences of wrong declarations. In Pakistan, our media and civil society have yet not made any such move.
The campaign for judicial accountability in India through public disclosures of assets by judges proved to be of great public importance. The public and media made it clear that the RTI legislation is the key to open government, transparency and accountability. Such legislation, if implemented in letter and spirit, can pave the way for a meaningful democratic dispensation. We in Pakistan require the similar public campaign if all the four pillars of State-Legislation, Judiciary, Executive and Media-have to be made accountable to the public. Right to information, access to public record and free availability of what is owned by privileged classes must be ensured as it is a fundamental right under Article 19A of the Constitution. It will certainly help establish an open government, free of corruption and accountable to voters responsible for creating it.
(Concluded) (The writers, lawyers and partners in Huzaima, Ikram & Ijaz, are member Adjunct Faculty of Lahore University of Management Sciences)