Islamabad, Oct 4 (IANS) Pakistan’s right to information commissions have been running without their civil society members for years, leaving the public with no seat on the bodies meant to enforce its constitutional right to know, a report said.
“Each commission has a retired bureaucrat and a senior jurist, filling two of the three slots, barring Balochistan, which has four seats. However, the civil-society seats in the Federal Commission and Sindh have remained vacant since January 2024, in Punjab since March 2025, and in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) since April 2026, ” Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
The commissions were set up to enforce Article 19-A of the Constitution independently of the government, with the civil society member meant to bring the public’s view. Zahid Abdullah, a former Federal Information Commissioner, said the vacancy has real consequences.
“When this (civil society Commissioner) position remains vacant, an important balance built into the composition of the commission is lost,” Abdullah said. “Where two serving members disagree, there is no third commissioner to establish a majority and resolve the matter,” he said, as per the report.
The Punjab commission has also proposed 14 amendments to the province’s 2013 transparency law in its 2024-25 annual report. The report said these raise questions about whether the commission is making access to information easier or adding obstacles.
“The proposals include exemptions for records relating to pending matters and internal correspondence; rejection of requests deemed ‘vexatious’, ‘malafide’ or ‘vague’; personal attendance requirements for citizens submitting requests electronically; and extending the period for deciding complaints from 60 to 90 days,” it said.
The problems are not limited to Punjab.
Karachi-based activist Naeem Sadiq says he gets information in only about half of his roughly 200 cases, and rates Punjab the worst performer, followed by Sindh and the federal system.
In Balochistan, Information Commissioner Abdul Shakoor cites a lack of staff and office space, and delays in releasing the commission’s budget.
“Pakistan may have the relevant legislation, but citizens continue to encounter delays, bureaucratic resistance and institutional barriers when attempting to exercise that right,” the report said.
The World Justice Project’s 2025 index ranks Pakistan 130th of 143 countries on rule of law. Its open government score is 0.39, against a global average of 0.52. Civil society groups, including the Free and Fair Election Network, have called for more transparency in how information commissioners are appointed.
“These proposals point towards a common principle: transparency cannot be effectively enforced by institutions that are themselves opaque, inaccessible or insufficiently accountable. Otherwise, the institutions created to open the doors of government may themselves become another bureaucratic door that citizens struggle to get through,” the report said.
–IANS
ksk/vd