Overview:
From 2002 to 2019, Pakistan has made considerable strides in terms of RTI legislation. The implementation, however, has remained week. Many factors can be attributed towards this slow pace of implementation. This include indifferent, sometimes hostile, external environment, low motivation of public authorities, old culture of secrecy where asking question has always taken as an act of aggression, and low organizational capacity to handle the request for information. When compared to other provinces and federal public authorities, KP is lucky in the sense that it got most conducive environment for implementation of RTI. The overall grading in different sections can give you an idea that how acute the situation might be in other parts of the country.
Overall, Pakistan, KP Province achieved a mediocre grade.
It is true that legislation is very important for realization of citizens’ right to information. But right to information is more than striking some excellent pieces of legislation. It is a change of culture, a change of mindset, a change in the state’s relationship with its “subjects”. It is a departure from the centuries’ old traditions of masterly relationship of state institutions towards adopting a new posture of service providers. The journey is long, and road is difficult to traverse. A policy decision would have to be taken that who early in childhood we start injecting the lessons of accountability and transparency in our children. The earlier we do it the easier it will be to create an overall culture of accountability in the country; otherwise no legislation, no matter how high it ranked, is strong enough to let the accountability scheme work.
Reports:
- English
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