Struggling to know

[HASEEB ANSARI]

Struggling to know
By Natalia Tariq

The right to information movement has really gained momentum in Pakistan over the past few years and has recently seen success in the form of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Right to Information (RTI) law. While the new law indicates the provincial government’s commitment to promoting transparency and accountability in the region, it has also raised questions regarding the actual benefit it would have for the people of K-P. While the law may sound good on paper, people are sceptical of its effective implementation and use. Will it lead to meaningful engagement of citizens in the democratic process? Will it provide a framework for citizens to hold their representatives accountable? Will it facilitate citizens to realise some of their other basic rights?
It is not surprising that there is so much scepticism amongst the general public regarding the benefits of the RTI Act. From the very beginning, the RTI movement in Pakistan has been a relatively top-down initiative. The Freedom of Information Ordinance, promulgated in 2002 under President Musharraf’s regime, was prompted by two key factors: the government’s desire to overcome international hostility stemming from its military background and pressure from donors. Moreover, even the RTI movement in Pakistan over the last few years has been led by only a few civil society organisations and media elite and unlike the grassroots demand for information in other parts of the region, such as in India and Bangladesh, it has been associated with a handful of key individuals. In such a context, where ordinary citizens are either unaware of the RTI law or don’t see it as being relevant for their everyday struggles to access even some of their basic livelihood rights, it is not difficult to understand the lack of confidence amongst people that the new RTI legislation in K-P will bring real change and development in people’s lives.
There are numerous examples across the globe, however, that have shown that the right to information is the right to realise all rights and has played a key role in helping people demand and realise their political, economic and social rights from their governments. In the case of Pakistan, if the K-P RTI law is coupled with an effective implementation mechanism, it will democratise the use of information from a few selected civil society organisations and media groups to all the citizens of Pakistan, broadening its impact and allowing citizens to access basic rights, like health and education, through its use.
Since the right of access to information empowers citizens to demand information from the state, it changes the balance of power between them — citizens can hold the state to account not only for information, but also for how it is delivering on its other obligations. Right to information, then, provides the enabling conditions for people to exercise some of their other basic political and human rights. In countries where people are unjustly being denied access to basic services and resources, right to information becomes the means through which these marginalised groups can leverage themselves to attain their socio-economic rights.
Thailand has constitutionally guaranteed the right to information to its citizens since 1991. In 1997, the Thai National Assembly passed the Official Information Act providing the legal framework for people to exercise their right to information. One successful use of this Act has been in ensuring Thailand’s constitutionally guaranteed right to education for children regardless of their socio-economic background.
Like in the case of Thailand, right to information can also be an instrumental tool to address socio-economic imbalances in countries such as Pakistan that are plagued by lack of accountability, human rights violations, underdevelopment and huge income disparities. With an effective and progressive right to information law in place in K-P, and the likelihood of a good law in Punjab, Pakistan provides the right conditions for the benefits of right to information to start being reaped in practice. However, the practical benefits of right to information will only be realised if the legislation is coupled with effective mechanisms for enforcing the law.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2013.