Fafen calls for overhaul of KP Right to Information Act

ISLAMABAD: Twelve years after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa became Pakistan’s first province to enact a Right to Information (RTI) law, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) notes the pioneering framework remains “underutilised and vulnerable to disinformation due to weak enforcement and structural gaps”. In a policy brief released Saturday titled “From Pioneer to Performer: Making Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Right to Information Act Work Against Disinformation”, Fafen urged the KP Assembly and provincial government to launch targeted legal and institutional reforms to transform KP’s pioneering right to information framework into an effective mechanism for proactive disclosure and public accountability. KP enacted the law after Article 19A on the “right to information” was added to the Constitution through the 18th Amendment in 2010. But Fafen’s assessment of 190 provincial public bodies’ websites found a stark implementation gap: on average, public bodies proactively disclosed only 57 per cent of the information the law requires them to publish. “Such information gaps create space for speculation, misrepresentation, and disinformation about government actions,” the brief noted, stressing that proactive, enforced and accessible publication of official data is the most effective counter to false narratives. In its policy brief, Fafen identified three main legal flaws and two institutional gaps holding back the Act. It noted that the definition of “public body” was excluded many private entities and NGOs that receive public funds, subsidies, tax concessions or government contracts. “The law mandates proactive disclosure but lacks enforcement mechanisms, timelines, and penalties for non-compliance. Public bodies publish information in different formats, making data hard to compare, use, or verify,” it added. The brief also pointed out that the KP Information Commission lacks financial and operational autonomy, affecting its ability to enforce the law. The commission cannot conduct