Did You Know You had a ‘Right’ to Know?

Being a young journalist in Pakistan, I was surprised pleasantly by the revelation that I legally had a right to know. At first I thought it was just the still-many-things-to-learn-me that didn’t know. So I asked around friends, family, colleagues only to find out it wasn’t just me. Wow! A right to know about where my taxes were utilized, a right to know how many flood affected people were given rations packs by the government, where and how the funds for the education sector are being used and how many of my beloved army men are deployed at Wagah to do that awesome “attennnshuun!” routine. A right that we, as citizens of Pakistan can use to access public records. Like seriously, who in the world would have thought that a country like Pakistan–now more famously known for shooting girls who want to study, in the head—was the first country to adopt the Freedom of Information (FOI) law in 2002. India enacted the law in 2005 and Bangladesh in 2009.

This law became a right for you and me only in April 2010 with the passage of the famous 18^th Amendment to the 1973 constitution. According to clause 19A of the constitution, “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.”

Well what basically happened with this was that we as citizens of Pakistan were given a right to question the government or public authority over any issue…ANY! Now, of course it is one of our distant dreams to have transparency in our country to the level we expect. So the procedures asking for this right has got some catches to it. Also the people on the other end aren’t used to people asking them too many questions about what they do; account (in) ability!

How can you file a request?

Well, first you need to obtain the FOI information form. This can be done from National bank or State Bank at a cost of Rs50. Remember to get a receipt for your challan because you will have to submit it with the form itself. If your bank doesn’t know about this, tell them to receive your cash under code 1081 and give you a receipt. The form can also be downloaded from various links provided on the Internet.

Then, after you’ve submitted your application, you don’t hope yet pray that it is answered. (TIP: Make a copy of your documents before you submit it!). You have to wait for 21 days as under the law, you are deemed to be answered within 21 working days. Oh yes, please add “I hope there are no strikes, public holidays O Allah!” to your prayers if the query is really urgent.

If your query is not answered you can submit an application to the concerned secretary. If he still doesn’t respond, you can submit a complaint to the Federal Ombudsman atcomplaints@mohtasib.gov.pk. The only thing is we don’t have a special ombudsman for the RTI cases yet. In Sindh, we had only 322 requests for the whole of this year. Which is pretty less to hire a whole man for the job right? (TIP: use your right, file a request. We need to get this going.)

We are lucky!

Yes, if you get the answer that you were looking for. Because, there may be times when you will be told that the information you are seeking is sensitive information, has nothing to do with you and so on and so forth. Remember, these guys out there aren’t used to people using their rights! So, it is our job to ensure that they get used to it. More requests= more questions= more answers in the coming years. The more we make use of this law, the more we can propose for removing the hindrances that come in our way. Don’t use it and it’s just as good as a showpiece in your drawing room.

We are also lucky, because we have a law like this even though it may be considered weak. 152 countries of the world still don’t even have freedom of information laws.