[1] Prior to 2010 the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan did not explicitly recognize citizens’ right to access information as it states that "every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law”.
The right to access information added to the Constitution by the 18th Amendment, which declared that under Article 19-A “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.”[2] Both federal and provincial governments issued various laws in order to allow Pakistani citizens to exercise their right to access public data.
The FOI Ordinance authorizes Pakistani citizens to gain access to data held by the national government.
If the requested information is not provided in 21 days, the applicant may file a complaint to the head of the public body.
The draft of the federal RTI bill is not significantly different from the FOI Ordinance of 2004, however, it has a change in scope as the new bill is not restricted to only governmental organizations, but it also applies to non-governmental bodies that are funded or registered by the national government.