Experts believe that it is the step which can strengthen the democracy in the province. The implementation of this act is a positive step to develop the relation between citizens and the government as well as the relation between journalists and the government. This act also helps the government to gain and strengthen the trust of people on authorities or the government. This act allows any citizen of Pakistan who has a national identity card to get the information of public interest from any government department through filing a proper RTI application. But regretfully the implementation status of this act is not satisfactory. The establishment of the RTI Commission which is responsible to oversee the RTI activities in the province and the performance of designated Public Information Officers (PIOs) and making them accountable to them is not done yet. According to the act, the government must form the commission within 120 days after the commencement of the act. But today it is almost twenty-two months or almost 674 days the status of the formation of the commission is still pending.

According to Syed Raza Ali  Project Coordinator CPDI, the government is bound to nominate the Public Information Officers in every provincial department in 120 days after the publication. He said that this is not necessary to hire new people as PIO or designated officer, every department nominate an internal employee for this purpose and he/she has to fulfill their responsibilities and duties regarding this act. He/she has to deal with RTIs filed by the citizens, journalists or what so ever. The main flaw which has to be improved or amended is that the number of the commission members are four, but it have to be three members of the commission, who made their decisions about RTI related complaints as other provinces added by Syed Raza Ali. He said the point to inform about the reason or cause to file an application for RTI is not valid it is against our constitutional article 19-A. Article 19-A of the constitution gives every citizen of Pakistan the right to get and ask about any information from government departments or from public bodies of public interest. The RTI itself is an anti-corruption tool, if the government or public bodies do not provide a required information to the citizen or journalists how do we believe that they are loyal to us? Even the provincial assembly that passed this act does not respond to the RTI applications and I applied for RTI nine months ago but never got any response until yet. The parliamentarians play a very crucial role to implement this act but they never monitored the implementation policies and never take any valid action regarding this which is the major cause of the unsatisfactory status of the act. The information commissioner of Sindh Mr. shahid Abbas Jatoi responded to my RTI request complaint of mine which I filed in the police department and the department didn’t show interest to provide me the information I wanted. But Information Commissioner ordered them to provide the required information within seven working days. This step of the Information Commission plays an important role to make government departments accountable to the public.

Former Minister Zahoor Bulledi and sitting MPA of the current ruling party and the one who played a significant role in passing this act stated that, laws can be amended when needed for the transparency of the govt policies but only passing the act through the provincial assembly is not just enough, the implementation of the act delayed because the government have different priorities which costing legislation and implementations of these laws.

The Executive Director of Individualland Gulmina Bilal said that access to information or implementation of the right to information act in the country plays a vital role to strengthen the democracy. Access to information made the government accountable to the people. RTI is an act that can bridge the gaps between civil society and government and promotes transparency in the governance policies. When the RTI act was passed by the government everyone appreciates this bold step of the government. But making no rule of business, the establishment of the RTI commission is not done yet which shows the failure. If govt has the intention to be transparent, so they have to make sure that what so ever filed RTI applications respond to them but it only happens when the RTI commission is formed, PIOs are designated in the departments, making a rule of business, formation of corresponding institutes. The government is bound to answer the questions of the people. Implementation of the act is the key point for government to regain the trust of the public.

Syed Ali Shah the renowned journalist replied to my question regarding that what is the most important step that has to be taken by govt for the implementation of the RTI act, he said first of all they must have to appoint an “Information Commissioner” who made this act effective and heads the commission. Select the most competitive, experienced, and educated person for this authoritative role or position. The appointment of the two other members of the commission is the second step that has to be taken to oversee and monitor PIOs performance. He adds that the current government never shows their courage neither take responsibility to implement this act, as a journalist we just highlight this issue of public interest until this act is fully implemented in the province. He said that show the cause to access about the information is not necessary but as a citizen or as a journalist it is our responsibility that we use acquired information with fairness and truth.

On the point regarding the flaws of the act or law Project Coordinator of CPDI Syed Ali Raza said, there are so many errors but if just take a look to find errors in the online publication of the act which is available on the website of the provincial assembly Balochistan some points are in the online publication. If you read the very first page of the law or act, the section number two Definitions point (g), page four section number eight Assistance to applicants point (3), page nine section number nineteen Functions and Powers of the Information Commission point (f) shows you the definite errors of the online publicized document. This law or act is the future of democracy in the province and the implementation of this law with amendments needed is necessary to achieve one more Sustainable Development Goal.