ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Secretary General Farhatullah Babar has welcomed the order of the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) that information about recruitments in the apex court be provided to a citizen who had sought it over two years ago.

Mr Babar said the PIC in its landmark order had declared that “if citizens’ right of access to information in matters of public importance pertaining to superior judiciary was restricted on the grounds that it would impact its independence and core functions, the same grounds would be relevant in the case of all public institutions”.

“Implementation of this order as well as the earlier order on June 2 to provide information about pension, perks, privileges, post retirement benefits and plots allotted in government schemes to judges will enhance, not detract from, the majesty of the law and the courts,” said Mr Babar in a statement on Saturday.

Rabbani terms US report on state institutions ‘uncalled for

“Transparency and accountability along with rule of law are pillars of democracy and the order will strengthen these pillars of democracy,” he said.

Mr Babar expressed the hope that the court would abide by the orders of the PIC which also called for appointment of a public information officer and placing all relevant information on the website as provided in the RTI law.

Meanwhile, PPP Senator Raza Rabbani, in a separate statement, said the US State Department’s report, titled ‘2021 Investment Climate Statements: Pakistan’, was uncalled for and unacceptable.

“Pakistan’s institutions, including its judiciary, can be suffering from internal weakness and deficiencies but such criticism or remedial measures can come only from within Pakistan’s Constitution and other structures,” he said, adding that no other country had the right to cast aspersions on institutions functioning under the Constitution and law in Pakistan.

The US, he said, should realise that Pakistan was not a client state, therefore, the state and its institutions could not be subjected to ridicule.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2021