The governed have the legitimate right to question the governing bodies and the ruling elite about governance lapses directly affecting them. The right to information ensures the people to enjoy the public utilities they are entitled to under the laws and the constitution in a democracy. In Pakistan this right is protected under Freedom of Information Act 2002. These were the propositions that were discussed during a three day FreedomGate Seminar on Freedom of Information recently in Islamabad.
The participants from media, academia, and civil society groups practically learned to exercise this right. The veteran moderator, Mr. Zafarullah Khan deliberated on different technical aspects, procedures of making requests to the concerned departments for some specific information. The potential multipliers vowed to make their students, friends, peer groups aware of the significance of this law and be the agents of change.
There is no doubt that right to information is one of the main human rights that protect and develop the human life. The use of the right to information will be able to contribute to solve many social and cultural problems of the individual and the communities. According to some experts from different fields there are many pre-conditions which are related to economical, social, cultural and political problems like hunger, education, health, social security and political freedom, without these it is not possible to realize the right to information. But this is equally true that right to Information ensures these civil rights. There is a strong relationship between the right to information and the development level of a country. The individuals who live in developed countries have many more possibilities in using the right to information than developing countries.
Based on interesting queries and discussions amongst the participants some information requests were consolidated to send to the concerned departments.