KARACHI, Nov 24 (APP):Chief Information Commissioner, Pakistan Information Commission,Muhammad Azam Khan on Wednesday urged students to be proactive and agitate against all social evils mainly corruption in public sector organizations through seeking right of access to information under article 19-A.
“You are educated core. Being our future hope, you should raise voice and write on social issues. At least, 80 % corruption shall be contained by your proactive role,” he asserted while speaking at a seminar on “Right to Information” here at Federal Urdu University.
He regretted that his commission had not much succeeded in educating and creating awareness on right to information to the citizens. However, he continued, efforts were being made on this account. Every citizen must know his right to access to information under Article 19-A of the Constitution and its benefits to the society as a whole.
For this purpose, Information Act-2017 was made. After 18th amendment, such acts were also made by all provinces, except Balochistan where it was in process, he said.
He said major corruption reported in the media was in the public sector mega projects. The reason was poor vigilance and lack of accountability.
“There must be standard operating procedures (SOPs) displayed for the common man about the estimated cost, completion time and life of the projects besides quality of work”. This would help provide right to information to the citizens who could raise their voice in case of any issue surfaced over the completion period or later on,he added.
Muhammad Azam Khan emphasized on the media students to write on the social and economic issues after getting correct information and using authentic sources. This would be their big contribution to the nation and the country.
Information Commissioners Fawad Malik and Zahid Abdullah also spoke on salient features of the Information Act-2017 and on the role Pakistan Information Commission.
