Dialogue on RTI held between government officials, journalists

PESHAWAR: Government officials and journalists held a dialogue here Wednesday on the Right to Information (RTI) law and shared their experiences regarding its use, benefits and shortcomings.

Held at a local hotel, the event brought together several government officials, mostly public information officers, and journalists from the print and electronic media, and led to a lively exchange of views. Senior journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai was the moderator for the dialogue. The Right to Information Commission (RTIC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was represented by Prof Iftikhar Hussain Khan, one of the two commissioners at the RTIC, Communication Officer Sayed Saadat Jehan and others.

Prof Iftikhar Hussain Khan made a presentation about the working of the RTIC and its achievements. He also answered questions regarding the need for restructuring of the RTIC and the use of technology to improve its working, overcoming the reluctance of government officials to share information with requesters, and punitive measures to prompt public information officers to provide the requested information about their departments within the prescribed time.

Journalists pointed out that they seldom get the requested information from government departments in time and are, therefore, constrained to make use of their personal contacts to obtain the required information. Proposals were made for empowering the public information officers and giving them incentives to motivate them to provide the needed information to applicants within 10 to 20 days as required under the law.