Pakistan needs a strong Federal RTI law to guarantee the constitutional Right to Information: Members of the Academic Network on Right to Information

RTI at the Federal level to adequately ensure citizens’ constitutional

right to access information held by government. This was agreed at a meeting

for Law and Democracy (CLD) was invited by PILDAT to apprise members of the

ANoRTI on the Global RTI Ratings series, which is an initiative of CLD that

comparatively assesses over a 100 RTI laws in the world. Pakistan is currently

different RTI laws in the world, Mr. Mendel said, “A strong law may not

guarantee effective implementation of the Right to Information; however, it

does help in the formation and sustainability of a robust implementation mechanism

for this all-important right.” He also said that civil society and media

were important stakeholders in the RTI movement as they could generate pressure

discussed how to expedite the passage of Pakistan’s internationally acclaimed

RTI Bill, which is currently being reviewed by a 5-member Committee appointed

by the Federal Government. In the context of Pakistan, they also favoured the

establishment of a dedicated Information Commission that has adequate powers

to ensure compliance of the RTI law within the executive, judicial and legislative

academicians and media persons, including Brig. Dr. Muhammad Khan, Head of International

Relations Department, National Defense University, Dr. Mansoor Kundi, Professor

of International Relations, International Islamic University Islamabad, Dr.

Syed Rifaat Hussain, Head of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University

of Science and Technology, Mr. Mateen Haider, Senior Correspondent, Dawn News,

Mr. M Ziaudding, Senior Columnist, Jang News, Mr. Maqbool Malik, Chief Reporter,

The Nation, Mr. Azaz Syed, Senior Correspondent, GEO News, and Mr. Raza Abid,

(ANoRTI) is a consortium of Academics, Government Training Institutes, and the

Information Commissions of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa dedicated to studying

RTI in Pakistan. It is facilitated 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.