Missing commission

Accountability and transparency are the two key pillars of democracy and good governance. Sadly, the Sindh government has ensured that both these elements remain absent or non-functional in the province. The officials of the Sindh government have, in majority of the cases, failed to respond to the requests for information raised by the citizens. The Sindh Right to Information Act passed in March 2017 required an information commission to be in place within the first 100 days of the passage of the Act. This was however done with a delay of 14 months in May 2018. Sadly, yet another year has passed and this commission continues to exist only in the files of the Sindh government.

Despite repeated appeals and letters in newspapers, it has not been felt necessary to grant the fundamental right of access to Information to the people of Sindh. This itself is a major violation of human rights as well as the constitution of Pakistan. Could we once again appeal to the honourable chief minister to resurrect this lifeless commission and publicly declare its rules, regulations and details in all major newspapers?

Naeem Sadiq ( Karachi )