President delays info about his Hajj expenses
ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain is resisting to respond to a Freedom of Information request about his Hajj expenses and is thus violating a presidential ordinance promulgated by one of his predecessors, Pervez Musharraf.
Instead of responding to the questions sent by an activist private citizen, Naeem Sadiq, an anonymous caller rang him up inquiring about his intentions for asking questions to President of Pakistan.
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Ordinance was promulgated in 2002 and is still in force. It acknowledges public right to know about everything and everybody using taxpayers’ money.
A Karachi-based Right to Information (RTI) activist, Naeem Sadiq, filed an information request under FOI Ordinance 2002 asking Mamnoon about the expenses he incurred while leading a 30-member entourage for performing Hajj in October this year.
There were conflicting reports in the media about who paid for the travel and stay of this entourage, which included members of personal staff as well as President’s relatives.
To clear the confusion that whether it was public money funded Hajj or not, Sadiq filed an information request asking the following three questions: 1) names of all persons who accompanied the president during his Hajj visit to Saudi Arabia; 2) amount spent on travel and stay of each individual; 3) who paid for the travel and living expenses of each individual. Were they paid by the president from his own pocket or sponsored by the government of Pakistan?
FOI law requires Presidency or any public institution to provide requested question within 21 days but it has not been done even after the passage of 48 days.
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Given the poor state of economy, the Islamic Ideology Council of Pakistan should issue a fatwa disallowing any such extravaganza funded by the national exchequer.