KARACHI, Feb 27: A two-day seminar on “The Right to Information”, being held under the joint auspices of Article 19 and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, began at a local hotel on Wednesday.

The HRCP director, I.A. Rehman, said the holding of the seminar was timely “as the present government in Pakistan is seized with some legislation on the issue”. He also referred to the various impediments in travelling and issuance of visas after the Sept 11 and the Dec 13 incidents.

“These impediments prevented some delegates from attending the seminar.”

The head of the law programme of Article 19, London, Toby Mendel, referred to the presentation of a model freedom of information law by Article 19 and its South Asian partners, including Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sri Lanka, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives, India, and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

For the first session, the topic of discussion was the need for the right to information. The panelists included Andrew Puddephali, executive director, Article 19, Ahmed Ali Khan, former editor-in-chief of Dawn, Zubeida Mustafa, assistant editor, Dawn.

The second session discussed standards on the right to information. The panelists included Mr Mendel, Deepika Mogolishetty of CHRI, India, and Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim.

The topic of the third and concluding session was developments in the region vis-a-vis freedom of information. The panelists included Arif Nizami, editor, The Nation, Javed Jabbar, former information minister, Sunanda Deshapriya from Sri Lanka and Deepika Mogolishetty from India.