LAHORE The speakers at a seminar titled 'Right of Access to Information and Media Reporting have urged the journalists to put the matter before the courts if they are not provided information by the government officials to build their news stories. At the seminar that was held at Hameed Nizami Press Institute of Pakistan (HNPIP) on Friday the speakers further said that the law regarding right of access to information was present and it should be used. Senator Syed Muhammad Zafar was the chief guest while senior journalists Tanveer Shahzad, Khawaja Naseer, Ashraf Sharif and Fazal Ahmad were the speakers at the seminar. Director HNPIP Absar Abdul Ali introduced the guests and topic on the occasion. SM Zafar said that when corruption was prevailing in the country, media was the only hope for the masses. He said that it was the duty of media-men to provide true information to the people using the right to access the information. He said there was no opposition in the parliament and the government was running the State affairs according to its will. In such situations it was obligatory to journalists to make aware the countrymen of what was happening in Pakistan. He said the people had the same expectations from independent judiciary as of media, adding if there was any denial of giving access to information by any of the government officials or organisations, the journalists should put the matter in the court of law. The journalists were of the view that though the law was present yet it was not operative and they could not get information through proper channel. However, if we were provided some information by any official or department, it was of its own interest, Tanveer Shahzad observed. He said that a reporter was even deprived of the common information. Khawaja Naseer was also of the same view and he described the hurdles and difficulties, which a reporter/columnist/editor etc had to face while collecting the information. The speakers who were all senior journalists were of the view that media-men had no much free time to take the matter into the courts. Earlier, Absar Abdul Ali said that the right of access to information was included in International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He said the same was the basic human right, while to know the situation in this regard HNPIP organised the seminar.