To: Director General Sports, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

 

Dear Sir,

I hope this message finds you in good health. I am writing with great respect, but I must also bring an issue under your notice regarding the Right to Information (RTI) applications filed for districts such as Peshawar, Kohat, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Tank, Malakand, and Khyber. These applications have been pending for more than three months, and some for over a year.

It is confusing that at times it appears that the District Sports Officers (DSOs) indicate they don't have the records, at other times that the records are lost, and at other times it seems that they just don't want to do the work. We can accept excuses, but this cannot continue indefinitely while public funds are not being accounted for.

Surprisingly, when these requests were made, the DSOs were around and visible. Even now, some DSOs remain in Peshawar as administrators, yet the responsibility for district-level work seems to have magically disappeared. For example, the DSO of Charsadda is stationed in Peshawar, but district-level responsibilities are still expected to be fulfilled. Similarly, requests from Mardan, Nowshera, Tank, Malakand, and Khyber remain pending. The excuses vary: “We don’t have time,” “Records aren’t ready,” or my personal favorite, “We’re too busy.”

When the record of Sawabi was asked for, the DSO left for Timergara, and Timergara's record is still pending too. Khyber's case is no better either, where competitions last year were displayed with only a single photo. When they were questioned regarding how many competitions had been held, how many players were there, and how much money was utilized, the reply was total silence. It's obvious that public funds are not private property, but accountability has disappeared.

This is money belonging to the public, not anyone's own personal funds. DSOs and Regional Sports Officers should be transparent and make records accessible to the public. Picking up papers and sitting in the office is not enough; they should be answerable to the people.

On a humorous note, one could recommend initiating a "Time Management Course for DSOs" in order to address this perennial "no time" issue. But the issue at hand is serious: this is about citizens' rights, not humor.

So, I request you to take this issue seriously and lay down unambiguous directions so that the outstanding requests, both three months and more than one year old, are fulfilled in a timely manner. Giving citizens access to information is not a choice—it is legally and ethically mandated.

Last but not least, although this letter takes a bit of humor, the underlying message is serious: when such excuses end, true transparency and public trust are attained. I am sure you will take proactive steps to protect the public's right to information.

Thank you for your time,

Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator