Replug: Right to Information in Pakistan

The Official Secrets Act in this region was first implemented in 1923, under the British rule. It is

still standing in India and Pakistan, and many other Commonwealth countries.

In Pakistan, it is a 17-page document that withholds the public right to sensitive information for "national security" and gives guidelines to media. The Act finds punishable the leaks of "munitions of war" to sketches or even undeveloped films of road plans, waterways, spying, approaching or inspecting a prohibited place etc.

Secrecy laws exist everywhere but there is a time frame after the information is released. For example, the CIA in the USA publicly released information on the American involvement in the military coup in Iran (1953, Mussadiq), Guatemala (1953, Arbenz), Chile (1973, Allende). The Pakistani intelligence reports regarding the Kashmir war 1947, war of '65. '71 and the first three military coups are unreleased.

Under this Act, illegal or malicious government activity can never be identified. Prosecutions under this law were also controversial, like those of Dr Qadeer Khan, M Farooq and General Aslam Beg for leaking Pakistan's nuclear secrets.

"The government has intentions to review laws like the Official Secrets Act, 1923, to do away with the colonial hangover of secretive and exclusive governance," said Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Sumsam Ali Bokhari in December 2009. Senator Mushahid Hussein said the same in 2006, on the "3rd International Right to Know Day" and appreciated the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002.

But lawyer Asad Jamal is more skeptical: "The Freedom of Information Ordinance is very narrow and applies only to federal bodies and not the majority of intelligence agencies. You need an enabling law, otherwise it depends on the judiciary how they interpret it." The Indian Rights to Information Act is a more enabling document.

"The 18th Amendment includes Article 19A making right to information a fundamental right of every citizen," states Jawad Hassan, Advocate General Punjab. "The Official Secrecy Act is standing, but the Constitution prevails over the law. Therefore, you can process information of 'public importance' and even file a writ in the high court if violated."

National Security is important, but so is our history. The official secrecy time limit should be included in a constitutional clause and information older than 30 years should be publicly released.

This short piece was first published in The News in 2010.