September 18: News media from Islamabad expressed solidarity with the ongoing Right to Information (RTI) movement in Pakistan and urged the Federal Government to follow the positive example set by the Provinces of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab in passing and implementing modern RTI legislation. Participants also discussed instances of how they had put the RTI law to use both successfully and unsuccessfully, which included requesting expenditure records of Chief Minister and Governor House of Punjab, the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence. These views were expressed at a Briefing Session for News Media on State of Right to Information in Pakistan organized by PILDAT on September 18, 2015, at Sheesh Mahal III, Islamabad Serena Hotel. Speaking at the event were Mr. Abdul Matin Khan, Information Commissioner, KP Right to Information Commission, and Mr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ali, Information Commissioner, Punjab Information Commission (PIC).

Mr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ali highlighted the importance of RTI legislation as a tool for the news media in investigative journalism. He was of the view that the media�s traditional reliance on �sources� was no longer the most accurate and efficient way of obtaining and verifying information of public importance. He said that the information received from such sources varied greatly in terms of accuracy and quality, and could often be tainted by the personal agenda of the source in question. RTI laws, he asserted, provided the only reliable means of obtaining and verifying information required in news reporting. He said that by relying on information obtained directly from public bodies, the media could produce investigative reports based on incontrovertible facts and official records. The Information Commissioner Punjab noted with concern the small number of RTI requests submitted by media in Punjab, which, in his view, was indicative of their lack of ownership on such issues. Linking the success of RTI in Punjab to the existence of an independent body for oversight and enforcement, the Punjab Information Commission, he called on the media to advocate for the establishment of a similar Commission at the Federal level. Such a Commission, he added, would be more effective and consistent than the Federal Ombudsman in facilitating the media to request and obtain information.

Mr. Abdul Matin Khan appreciated the positive role played by the media in pressuring the Provincial Assembly of KP to recently repeal the controversial amendment it had made to the Province�s otherwise progressive law by excluding itself from the RTI Act ambit. The media, he added, had begun reporting on RTI-related developments and using the RTI law while reporting on issues of public importance. He shared that out of the more than 1000 information complaints received by the KP RTI Commission over the past year, 75 had been submitted by the media. The majority of these complaints had received a positive response, he added. The Information Commissioner also highlighted the many ways in which RTI had promoted transparency and accountability in the Province, such as the use of RTI by students seeking justifications for the marks they had been awarded on Board examinations; by public servants seeking transparency in government recruitment processes; by concerned citizens for improvement of medical facilities provided in prisons, and by residents of marginalized areas such as PATA for improvement in the provision of basic social services like health and education. He urged the media to continue using RTI and reporting on the ongoing movement to increase overall usage of the law.

Opening the Briefing Session, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President, PILDAT, stressed to the audience that the passage of modern RTI legislation at the Federal level was only the first step. He added that without more widespread use of the law by ordinary citizens and the media, the objectives of transparency and accountability in governance could not be fully realized. Speaking about the Indian experience, he highlighted the instrumental role played by the media in popularizing RTI and its usage, and in protecting this right from being weakened as was recently tried in KP. Commenting on the impact of RTI laws, he added that in a short time-span RTI had already stirred a silent revolution within Pakistan, transforming the way citizens and governments interacted. He quoted the example of PILDAT�s information request under the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002, for access to MNA attendance records, due to which the proactive disclosure of these records has become the norm within all legislatures of Pakistan. He concluded by saying that with a more progressive RTI law at the Centre, it would not be long before transparency and accountability became the norm in all aspects of government.

The Briefing Session for News Media on the State of Right to Information in Pakistan was organized by PILDAT under the More effective Right-To-Information (RTI) at Federal and Provincial level (Sindh and Punjab) Project, for which it has received financial support from Development Alternative Inc. (DAI) under the Enhanced Democratic Accountability and Civic Engagement (EDACE) Project.