Business Recorder: Islamabad: Tuesday,
September 27, 2016.
Minister for
Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid said on
Monday right to information (RTI) law was as necessary for the people as that
of electing a government through vote.
Addressing
the award distribution ceremony for Right to Information Champions hosted by
Coalition of Right to Information (CRTI), here at National Press Club, he said
the draft of RTI law would soon be presented in the federal cabinet for its
approval and then tabled in the 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.
Pervaiz
Rashid said it was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (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.
Local
journalist Aizaz Syed and a resident of Lahore Sarmad Ali were given Champions
of CRTI awards.
Later, the
minister said PTI Chairman Imran Khan should ensure that justice was provided
to the sacked officer of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa education department Azra
Afridi who blew the whistle against corruption in her department.
Imran Khan
should take it a test case as it provided him a golden opportunity to prove his
lectures of justice and accountability, which he delivered every day, he added.
Pervaiz
Rashid said the people had stopped believing in Imran's claims about
accountability and justice. They had realized that all his speeches were meant
to get political mileage. However, if he provided justice to the lady the
people might start believing in him again, he added.
Speaking on
the occasion, Azra Afridi said she was dismissed from service by the KP
government when she pointed out embezzlement of funds in the provincial
education department. She approached the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief
hoping that he would help provide her justice, but he left her at the mercy of
the KP government which not only dismissed her from service but got also
registered fake cases against her family, she added.
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