(MENAFN- Tribal News Network) PESHAWAR: Speakers at a day-long seminar on Thursday said that in the tribal belt, people of Waziristan are leading in the use of Right to information law after its extension to merged districts in April, this year.
The seminar was organized at a local hotel in Peshawar, comprising journalists and people from civil societies, mostly from tribal districts, to raise awareness of the use of the law of the right to information. Speakers on the occasion were Federal Information Commission Chief Muhammad Azam Khan, Zahid Abdullah, Advocate Fawad Malik and Provincial Information Commissioner Riaz Daudzai.
The speakers discussed the law on access to information and its implementation, saying that under the constitution, any citizen has the right to access information. Speakers said that any citizen can ask for information from any public department for any reason and the head Department is obliged to grant the information.
Speakers said that the law of the right to information in tribal districts is most commonly used in Waziristan where the commission has received more applications from citizens. Speakers at the seminar said that every government official is obliged to provide information to the public whose organization is operational on the cost of public tax. Speaker at the seminar, organized by the CGPA, said that the law is among the 10 best laws in the world.
The government officials believed that the implementation of RTI law would bring transparency to the functioning of the public bodies in the ex-tribal areas, which is pivotal to the mainstreaming of these areas.
Under RTI, every government department nominates public information officers under section 6 of the KP RTI Act. With whom requests for information can be submitted by citizens. In case no such officials are nominated by the public body, the head of that public body shall be presumed to be PIO. If the department doesn't provide information within the specified time, another application can be submitted RTI commissioner in Peshawar.
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