RTI law as important as franchise right, says Pervaiz

Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid said on Monday the right to information (RTI) law is as necessary for the people as electing a government through vote. Addressing the award distribution ceremony for Right to Information Champions hosted by Coalition of Right to Information (CRTI) at the National Press Club, the minister said the draft of RTI law would soon be presented in the federal cabinet for its approval and then tabled in parliament for making it an act. Implementation of the bill, he said, would be celebrated in a befitting manner. He said the people’s access to information would help ensure rule of law, merit and justice in the country, besides improving the performance of national institutions. Rashid said it was the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) government of the Punjab province which adopted the RTI law in 2013 in its previous tenure. If the PML-N was against the RTI law then its government in Punjab would not have adopted it, he added. He said there was no justification in hiding information from the people. The minister said his ministry had sent the draft of the RTI bill to the Ministry of Law and Justice for its legal diction without making any changes in the spirit of the bill. He said last month he chaired five meetings in which legal diction of the bill was discussed. The bill had been prepared in a way that no one could misuse it for stopping the flow of information, he added. He said the credit of the bill’s approval would go to the entire parliament, the Senate Committee on Information, Broadcasting and the people of Pakistan, who had been struggling for democracy, freedom and press and political liberties.