Islamabad:
The free and fair election network (FAFEN) has asked the Government to undertake comprehensive legal reforms to strengthen the implementation of the right of access to the Information Law, 2017.
In a summary of the policy entitled ‘Strengthen the right to information (RTI) in Pakistan’, published on Sunday, Fafen stressed that, although Pakistan’s framework is among the most progressive, its effectiveness has been hindered by Institutional inertia, ambiguous legal provisions and the weak application of weak mechanisms.
The deficiencies have prevented the law from reaching its intended objective of guaranteeing the transparency of the government.
The absence of timely information about the actions, decisions and expenses of public bodies generates destabilizing misinformation and misinformation.
“Fafen firmly believes that the strengthening of the RTI legal framework will serve as a bulwark in the government’s efforts to counteract misinformation, which is deepening political polarization in the country,” Fafen said.
As part of his continuous campaign of “misinformation of counteracting through information”, Fafen has already carried out an evaluation of the Federal Ministries and Divisions website, and has found a low level of compliance with the provisions of the RTI Law, 2017.
Similar evaluations are ongoing for provincial departments.
Fafen said that greater independence and powers for the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) will allow you to effectively enforce the provisions of the law in public bodies, which is fundamental to improve the transparency of the government and the counterinformation.
In his policy report, Fafen urged the Parliament to further strengthen the RTI legal framework by eliminating ambiguities and train the image to lead application efforts instead of simply serving as an appeal forum.
The proposed amendments include specifying clear deadlines for proactive disseminations and the digitalization of records, expanding the scope of public records, reforming the process for appointment and elimination of information commissioners, and ordering public bodies that submit reports from compliance with the requirements of the law to the PIC.
Fafen recommends a more advisory approach to the appointment and elimination of information commissioners through a bipartisan parliamentary committee with the same representation of the treasure and the opposition.
Transfer these responsibilities of executive control and guarantee the financial independence of the Commission through amendments to section 21 would allow it to function as a more effective supervision agency.
The Fafen policies summary also emphasized the need for public bodies to be beyond simply publishing online data.
Instead, he recommended that the PIC establishes standardized formats and practices and easy maintenance of records, including search databases, clear summaries and intuitive indices to improve accessibility.
