PESHAWAR: Following a great deal of pressure from the opposition parties, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday incorporated an amendment to bring the provincial assembly within the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act which had previously been omitted when the law was passed in June.

The amendment was passed by the assembly in its session held under Speaker Asad Qaisar. The amendment to delete Section 3 of the RTI and bring the provincial assembly under the law was passed after scathing criticism from rival political parties and civil society groups, who argued that the law should be implemented across the board.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran had taken serious notice of the situation with regard to the law and had directed his party-led government to include the assembly in the Act immediately. The amendment said that it was desirable to amend the KP Right to Information Act 2015 to add again the secretariat of the provincial assembly, along with its members and the assembly itself.

The controversial bill was passed three months ago despite staunch opposition. Even the chief minister and cabinet members were unhappy over the move to exclude the assembly from the Act due to which a new amendment was made to allow the RTI to cover the speaker, assembly’s secretariat and its members.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2015

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