I had been considering writing on this topic for a while, but I foolishly believed it to be ‘trivial’ or ‘unimportant’, or even ‘so incredibly stupid that my brain hurt to dwell on it for more than a moment’. But our elected leadership and our guardians of justice have managed to open my stubborn eyes. […]
RAWALPINDI: People from all walks of life on Tuesday asked the Punjab government to enact a Right to Information (RTI) law similar to the one passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. Speaking at a mobilisation camp here, civil society activists and others said the passage of the RTI ordinance in the KP province was going […]
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Ordinance 2013, promulgated by the provincial PTI government, is a complex piece of legislation which will require time to properly analyse and digest. And, as with all such laws, good intentions will not be enough and will have to be followed by effective implementation. These caveats aside, the law […]
IT is a testament to the rapid progress of information technology that lectures and courses by well-known educational institutes, analyses of political and social discourse, and historical accounts of relatively unknown events can be accessed through video-sharing websites such as YouTube. However, in Pakistan, because of certain sacrilegious videos purportedly threatening public order, a whole […]
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Ordinance (RTIO) was unveiled by the provincial government on Sunday. The ordinance makes it binding upon the government to set up an independent information commission and makes obstruction in access to any record a penal offence punishable by up to two years imprisonment. The ordinance, promulgated by the […]
PESHAWAR: The government has amended its draft on the Right to Information (RTI) Ordinance, after the initial blueprint was criticised for certain inadequacies. K-P Governor Engineer Shaukatullah Khan, who signed the ordinance forwarded by the provincial government on August 13, was quoted by an official source as saying: “I have signed the ordinance because the […]
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will unveil the right to information ordinance on Aug 18 (Sunday) during a special function to be attended by provincial Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan.The ordinance will come into force with immediate effect, say the relevant officials. The officials told Dawn on Thursday that Khyber […]
“Do you use YouTube, Minister?” I asked. “No, because it is not allowed,” she replied sounding a little taken aback. “Do you think your internet experience has been qualitatively compromised since that ban?” I followed up. “Yes, of course, it has,” she replied again. I thanked her for her time and left her office. My […]
LAHORE: The minister for information technology and her secretary again did not appear before the Lahore High Court and the judge again issued notices to them on a petition challenging the ban imposed by the former government last year on the Youtube for exhibiting blasphemous material on it. On Tuesday, the court was informed that […]
The many freedoms the Pakistani press and media enjoy today are a result of years of vibrant activism and struggle by journalists and civil society. The state (and all its various manifestations) unable to have direct control (of privately owned media) because of decent media laws, now employs subversive tactics to keep things under control. […]
‘FREEDOM of information is a fundamental human right, the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the UN is consecrated.’ (Resolution 59(1) of the UNGA). The main theme behind the concept of freedom of information is that public institutions have an obligation to disclose information and every member of the public has a corresponding right […]
Sir: On September 17, 2012, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ordered access to YouTube blocked after the website did not remove the trailer of Sam Bacile’s Innocence of Muslims, a film insulting Islam. Pakistan banned YouTube because it was considered blasphemous for defaming Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Since this ban months ago, the government has […]
THE recent leak of Abbottabad Commission report escalated the political temperature and inundated talk shows with a new debate. The script, which surfaced, though critical of military intelligence agencies, didn’t fix the responsibility, unambiguously, on one institution. However, the leaked text of the report categorically highlights the civil-military imbalance, and brings to limelight the incapacity […]
FREEDOM of information is a fundamental human right, the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the UN is consecrated. (Resolution 59 (1) of the UNGA) The main theme behind the concept of freedom of information is that public institutions have an obligation to disclose information and every member of the public has a corresponding […]
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