Right of Access to Information Bill lands in Senate

ISLAMABAD – The government on Monday introduced the much-awaited Right of Access to Information Bill in the Senate that if passed by both the houses of parliament will replace the existing Musharraf-era law.

State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurengzeb tabled the bill on the last day sitting of especially requisitioned session. The proposed law was being awaited for the past four years.

The ruling PML-N pledged to bring a strong Right of Access to Information Law at the federal level that will replace, if passed, the weaker Musharraf-era law known as Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002.

The provincial governments of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh have already promulgated strong laws on the right to information.

According to the statement of objects and reasons of the proposed law, the access to information is an essential pre-requisite to the people’s realisation of their ideals of good and transparent governance and for which it is necessary to ensure that the citizens of Pakistan should have the fullest possible access to public records.

Within six months of coming into effect, the prime minister will establish Pakistan Commission on Access to Information to be known as Information Commission. A public body will be required to respond to a request of access to information as soon as possible within 10 working days of receipt of the request and the period may be extended for further 10 working days.

The section 16 of proposed law under the head of ‘Information Exempt from Disclosure’ reads: “Any request of access to information would not be entertained if the disclosure to public is likely to cause damage to the interests of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the conduct of international relations, result in the commission of an offence and harm probe into a particular case.

“The information would be exempt if disclosure would involve invasion of privacy, cause damage to the economy, damage to the financial interests of the public body and cause damage to the lawful commercial activities of the public body. The information would be exempt if its disclosure is likely to cause serious prejudice to the defence or security of Pakistan or the capability as well as effectiveness of armed forces of Pakistan or other law enforcement agencies.”

The house passed at least six government-sponsored bills including Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill-2017, the Costs of Litigation Bill-2017, National Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill-2017; Explosive Substances (Amendment) Bill-2017 and Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill-2017.

The PPP and PTI opposed amendment to the Pakistan Air Force Act 1953 that would give powers to the PAF to reopen cases with retrospective effect against retired officers. The senators from the Fata did not take part in voting.

Apprehending that the back dated legislation seemed targeting some unspecified former officers of the PAF, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar asked the government to explain the rationale.

“If the PAF also wishes to do the same there is no quarrel but for God’s sake do so from today and not retroactively.” he said.

A PAF officer, who retired 17 years ago is a civilian and can be tried for alleged corruption under the stringent provisions of NAB applicable from 1985, he said questioning the special need for amending the PAF Act with back dated effect

“I beseech the security establishment to please look inwardly and ask itself whether it was right,” he said. He had also submitted a dissenting note at the time of its passage by the defence committee of the senate a few weeks ago.

Later, he moved an amendment to do away with retrospective effect and to make it applicable prospectively, which however was not allowed. Under the National Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill, the federal government will constitute a commission to be known as the National Commission on the Rights of the Child to exercise its powers and perform its functions under this act.

Under the Costs of Litigation Bill, the statement of objects and reasons of the bill say: “The tendency of filing false and vexatious cases and taking baseless grounds for defence is unfortunately on the increase in the country and it is therefore necessary to empower courts to impose costs to discourage false and frivolous litigation and unnecessary adjournments.”

The house also unanimously passed two separate resolutions, condemning the murder of 14 workers in Gwadar and Kharan, and terrorist attack on Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Mastung area of Balochistan.

State and Frontier Regions Minister Abdul Qadir Balochl said on Iranian strike statements Iran had retracted its army chief’s remarks. “Iran has later clarified that it had no such intentions,” he said, adding that the neighbouring country wanted friendly relations with Pakistan. “Iran has not owned Indian Spy Khulbushan Jadhav [regarding its presence on its soil],” Baloch said.

On the incident of recent firing of Afghan forces on a Pakistani border village, the minister said that the geological survey had confirmed that the Pakistani census teams had not entered Afghanistan.

“The report in this regard has yet to be reached but I have been informed,” he said.

The Pakistani delegation in his recent visit to Afghanistan has also offered the third party evaluation about Afghanistan’s allegations that Pakistan was either as supporting Haqqani network or was interfering into its internal matter, he said.

On the statement of Chinese ambassador to India that the CPEC name could be changed, the minister said that the Chinese government and Chinese ambassador to Pakistan had rejected this statement.

About Indian spy Jhadav, he said that Pakistan had prepared its case well to contest this case before the International Court of Justice. He also informed the house that the prime minister was attending Arab Summit on a special invitation.

Source: The Nation