Last week, the National Assembly passed a crucial bill, namely The Public Interest Disclosure Bill 2017. The bill is surely a step in the right direction. Its importance cannot be emphasised enough since it tackles economic crimes and aims at protecting ‘whistleblowers’ in corruption cases. The crimes covered under the bill include money laundering, fraud, embezzlement, and kickbacks. The bill applies to officials of the federal as well as provincial governments but it also features categories of cases in which whistleblowers — those who disclose information of public interest — will not be provided any protection. Among these is information likely to ‘prejudicially’ affect Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity, its security, strategic and economic interests. Considering our political history, it will be of utmost importance that these interests are determined carefully and by the Parliament alone. Whistleblowers are crucial to the functioning of a democratic system. A strong system is one where the public gets to vote in their interest and there are mechanisms through which it can hold those exercising power in its name accountable. The bill states that whistleblowers are often are subjected to retaliation in the form of discrimination, intimidation, abuse, unjust disciplinary action, and even threats of physical harm to them and their families. It proposes that whistleblowers make disclosures before the ‘competent authority’, which can be the respective head of the organisation. This will lead to a preliminary inquiry. Now that the bill has been passed, the Parliament should needs to evolve rules such that ensure its effective implementation. * Published in Daily Times, August 22nd 2017.