Most people fighting a public body in Pakistan — over a plot, a pension, a transfer, a tender, a school admission, a demolition — are fighting blind, because the record that would prove their case sits in a file they have never been allowed to see. There is a legal way to get it, it is cheap, and it is used far less than it should be.
The right, and the laws that carry it
Article 19A of the Constitution gives every citizen the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance, subject to reasonable restrictions imposed by law. That is a fundamental right, not a policy.
It is made usable by statute, and which statute applies depends on which body holds the record:
- Federal departments and bodies — the federal right of access to information legislation, with the Pakistan Information Commission as the appellate body.
- Punjab — the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013, with the Punjab Information Commission.
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — its Right to Information Act, 2013, with the KP Information Commission.
- Sindh and Balochistan have their own transparency and right to information laws and their own commissions.
Identify the right one first. A request under the wrong statute, to a body it does not cover, wastes the clock.
What you can ask for
Far more than most people assume. Records held by a public body — files, notings, correspondence, minutes, contracts, tender documents, budgets and expenditure, inspection reports, licences and permissions, and the record of decisions taken about you.
Exemptions exist and are real: national security and defence, information that would prejudice an ongoing investigation or a fair trial, certain cabinet notings, trade secrets, and the personal privacy of third parties. But an exemption applies to specific information, not to a whole file — the laws generally require severable material to be released with the exempt portion redacted, rather than the request being refused wholesale.
Making the request
- Address it to the designated official. Every public body must designate a public information officer. Ask for the name; if the body has not designated one, that failure is itself a ground of complaint.
- Use the prescribed form where the statute has one, and pay the nominal fee.
- Be specific. "All records relating to corruption in the department" gets refused. "The file noting, approval and allotment letter in respect of plot number X in scheme Y, between January 2021 and December 2022" gets answered. Name the document, the period and the subject.
- Do not explain why you want it. Under these laws you generally do not have to give a reason, and a reason simply gives the officer something to argue with.
- Get an acknowledgement with a date, by hand against a receipt or by registered post. The whole appeal timeline runs from that date.
The deadline, and what silence means
Each statute gives the body a fixed period to respond — typically counted in working days, with a limited extension where the request is voluminous, and a much shorter period where the information concerns a person's life or liberty.
The crucial rule: silence is a refusal. If the period passes with no answer, the request is deemed refused and your right of appeal opens immediately. You do not have to keep waiting politely, and waiting is the most common way these requests die.
Appealing
Appeal to the Information Commission for that jurisdiction. This is the part that makes the law work:
- It is free or nearly free, and you do not need a lawyer.
- The Commissions have power to direct disclosure, and to impose penalties on officials who obstruct without lawful ground.
- The burden of justifying a refusal is on the public body, not on you. It has to identify the exemption and explain why it applies.
File the appeal with the original request, the acknowledgement, the reply (or a note that none came, with the dates), and a short statement of why the refusal is wrong. Where a Commission's direction is ignored, or where no Commission is functioning, a constitutional petition under Article 199 is the next step — and Article 19A is the argument.
Where it is most useful
- Land and housing schemes — allotment files, cancellation notings, the order that affected your plot.
- Service matters — the seniority list, the selection minutes, the inquiry report behind a transfer or a penalty.
- Pensions and dues — the calculation and the file's progress.
- Procurement — tender evaluation reports and the award, where you competed and lost.
- Local development — what was budgeted for a road, a school or a filtration plant, and what was actually spent.
- Building and environment — approvals granted for a construction next door.
Two practical habits
Split a large request into several precise ones rather than filing one sprawling application — a specific request is much harder to refuse, and one refusal then does not sink everything. And keep the whole paper trail from the first day: the request, the receipt, every reply, every date. The appeal is decided on that file, and it is usually the applicant's own record-keeping, not the law, that decides whether they get the documents.
This article describes the right of access to information in Pakistan in general terms and is not advice on any particular request. Which statute applies, the response period and the appeal route depend on whether the body is federal or provincial. Consult an advocate where the information is needed for pending litigation or where a refusal has to be challenged in the High Court.