#Pakistan - Govt fails to provide people's access to information: study

By Asma Ghani

The government has failed in dispensing citizens with their right to access of information which is leading to eroding transparency and accountability in Pakistan.

The was the crux of a study focusing on the breach of Article 19-A of the Constitution that guarantees access to information by the state to its citizens, as well as, the Federal Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.

It was found that all federal ministries had performed poorly in complying with the act, resulting in impeding transparency, accountability and access to information.

Seventeen of the total 46 federal ministries functional between the last day of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government and start of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led regime did not even have websites in this regard.

Moreover, the remaining 27 that did, most failed at complying with Section 5 of the Act which deals with the proactive disclosure requiring all federal public bodies, including federal ministries, to provide a set of a minimum of 39 categories of information.

“This also represents a failure to comply with its commitments made under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) relating to transparency, good governance, as well as, the development related to implementation of policy and statutory guarantees on access to information,” a passage of the study reads.

The study, conducted by the Islamabad-based Institute of Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA), has been released on the eve of International Day for Universal Access to Information (IUDAI), which is globally commemorated every year on September 28.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1813002/1-govt-fails-provide-peoples-access-information-study/