Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Special Committee of Senate on Right to Information (RTI) Chairman Senator Farhatullah Babar on Thursday tabled report and draft of RTI law.

For the first time a provision has been incorporated to end the practice of seeking blanket immunity from disclosing information in the name of national security, he said.

Universally recognised Johannesberg principles that strike a balance between considerations of national security and public good have been relied upon in ending the practice of hushing up information behind the facade of national security, he said.

Under the law, reasons will have to be recorded in writing as to how considerations of security outweighed public good and even then it will be challengeable before the Information Commission, he said.

Furthermore the plea of national security will not apply if the information sought related to corruption or if the life of a citizen was in imminent and real danger. Information about defence planning, deployment of forces and defence installations and related defence and security matters however will be exempt from disclosure.

The bill also provides for Information Commission for deciding appeals but rejects the notion that its members must be from the judiciary alone, he said.

He said that the underlying principles of the RTI bill were ensuring maximum disclosure, minimum exemptions, the right to appeal and applicability across the board to all state institutions including even NGOs receiving government support in any form.

Willful destruction of official record with a view to withholding information from the public has been made a criminal offence carrying a jailterm of two years.

Members of the Information Commission will be appointed by the prime minister but he will not be able to do it arbitrarily by from any single section of society but will have to select one member each from three distinct areas of society including former civil military bureaucracy, retired judges and civil society organiszations.

Public record now includes information about transactions, acquisition and disposal of property, grant of licenses, allotments and contracts awarded by a public body to name a few, he said. The bill overrides all other laws and thus the outdated Official Secrets Act of 1923 is made redundant for purpose of withholding information.

However, Babar said the real issue is not making a law but that of the culture of secrecy and of sacred cows.

Questions asked in the Senate in Musharraf days like whether inquiry had been held in Kargil, whether defence officers declared their assets to their respective headquarters and whether there is a law under which ISI operated were not replied on the ground that national security was at risk, he said. Now such questions cannot be swept under the carpet on the ground of endangering national security.