Corruption in Pakistan

Introduction:

 Corruption
 Corruption- a global plague
 Corruption in Pakistan
o Excerpted from the speech of Quaid-e-Azam
o Corruption Perception of Pakistan by Transparency International

Main Body:

 Failure to provide an effective governance system

 Political corruption-failure of democracy
 Poor ethical standards set by the political leadership
 Feeble judiciary
 Absence of rule of law
 Lack of independent institutions
 Poor accountability mechanism
 Societal values induces corruption
o Appreciation of the rich
o Depreciation of integrity
o Media only depict the multi-millionaires
o Large family size
o Social pressures for ostentatious demonstration of wealth
o Societal toleration of corruption
 Country’s poor economic situation
o Scant per capita resources
o Low level of economic development
o Economic disparity
o Poor prospects of prosperity by fair means
 Mass illiteracy
 Administrative corruption in Pakistan
o Inadequately remuneration of civil servants
o Vast discretionary powers
o Transfers and postings-travesty of meritocracy

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  Corporate corruption
o Poor Corporate governance
o Avaricious role of the middleman or speculators
o absence of effective consumer's rights protection regime
o Failure of monopoly control mechanism
 Failure of religious leaders to imbibe that corruption is bad

Impact of Corruption:

 Sense of insecurity
 Exacerbated poverty
 Weakened administrative, political and social institutions
 Direct loss to the public exchequer
 Reduced the impact of development
 Human development indicators has shown little improvement
 Corruption saddled the country with high debt
 Corruption impeded the way of economic development
 Decline in the moral standards and values of the society
 Breakdown of law and order
 Loss of legitimacy of state institutions
 Political instability
 Tarnished the image of the country

Initiative by the government to tackle corruption:

 Prevention of Corruption Act 1947

 Public Representatives (Disqualification) Act 1949
 Elected Bodies (Disqualification) Ordinance 1959
 FIA (that replaced the Pakistan Special Police Establishment (PSPE) in 1975)
 The Ehtesab Commission, 1996
 The Ehtesab Bureau, 1997
 National Accountability Bureau (NAB)
 Formation of National Anti-Corruption Strategy, 2002
 Endorsed the ADB-OECD Anti-Corruption Action Plan in 2001
 Ratified the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2007

Recommendations to curb corruption:

 Formulate a comprehensive, realistic and holistic assessment of the nature, causes and
impact of corruption
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  Incorporate awareness among society for prevention, monitoring and combating
corruption
 Form a coalition of the state, civil society and the private sector against corruption
 Ensure democratic reforms
o Political leaders must set precedents of fairness, honesty and integrity
o Stop dabbling in politics for seizing power or for self-enrichment
o Ensure political stability
 Ensure rule of law:
o An across-the-board accountability mechanism
o Stringently implement the law
o Emulate the Singaporean example
o Deliver expedite justice to corrupt
o Ensure independence of institutions
o Broaden the number, powers and jurisdiction of accountability courts
o Remove administrative corruption
 Ensure assertive civil society
o Inculcating the honesty and integrity in society
o Avoid paying bribes
o Report incidents of corruption to the authorities
o Imbibe in children the right values
o Redefine the meaning of success
o Shun corrupt elements
-Excerpt from statement of Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore
o Media must launch anti-corruption campaigns

Conclusion:

 A corruption-free Pakistan is tenable if everyone joins hands for crusade against

corruption

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 Corruption in Pakistan

A country exists to ensure wellbeing of its citizens, promises a quality life and freedom from servitude,
so that people able to live without fear of injustice and tyranny. Nothing harms these promises more
than corruption in the organs of the state. It does not remain restricted to the public sector only; rather
like a contagious disease, it permeates the whole society.

The United Nations Manual on Anti-Corruption, the Transparency International, and the
multilateral financial institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank define corruption as,
“abuse of public office for private gains” The National Anti Corruption Strategy (NACS) has defined
corruption as “a behavior on the part of office holders in the public or private sector whereby they
improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves and/or those close to them, or induce others to do so,
by misusing the position in which they are placed.”

Corruption is a menace that is looming larger before the humanity, developing as well as
developed nations suffer from corruption but the nature, intensity, and frequency of corruption in
developed world is altogether different from that of developing nations. Conservative estimates states
that world corruption accounts for more than $700 billion. Pakistan being no exception, also reel from
staggering corruption. Even 64 years ago, while addressing the first constituent assembly, the founder of
the nation said about this plague in the following words:

"One of the biggest curses from which India is suffering, I do not say that other countries are free from
it, but, I think our condition is much worse, is bribery and corruption. That really is a poison. We must
put it down with an iron hand."

Lamentably, the apt words of the Jinnah had been in the oblivion for the last 64 Years.
Corruption has become a disease infecting every aspect of political, social and economic activity in
Pakistan. As indicated by the several surveys and researches. Since first being included in 1995, Pakistan
has consistently performed poorly on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency

International. As per 2010 CPI report, Pakistan scored 2.4 on CPI index and is considered 34th most
corrupt nation. The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2007-08) says that
corruption is the third greatest problem for companies for doing business in Pakistan. A World Bank
report containing an assessment of the Pakistan’s Infrastructure Capacity (PICA) states that 15% of
Pakistan’s Development budget for 2007-08 was lost in the procurement process alone due to

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corruption. General perceptions and actual public surveys about corruption show that Police, Power
Sector, Judiciary, and various Taxation departments (Custom duties, Income Tax), are most corruption
infested entities in Pakistan.

From the complex web of multifarious factors that are responsible for this nerve-racking level of
corruption in Pakistan, it is possible to disentangle the main strands. Corruption has its roots in the mass
migration during the emergence of this country. The migration resulted in vacuum in a number of areas
that triggered the initial phase of corruption. The internecine squabbling of the political lot and turf war
to seize power was a corruption in itself. Their parochialism thwarted any attempt to provide a
governance system to the nascent state. Their myopic visions and quibbling excited the military and
bureaucratic nexus to intervene in the politics that further undermined the governance system thus
paved the way for the corruption. Given half a chance, the bureaucracy availed themselves of
opportunities of corruption especially in the evacuee property distribution. The judiciary also
collaborated in this corruption saga by upholding the infamous doctrine of necessity. Thus from an
objective point, it seems that the pillars of the state themselves proved to be the stepping stones for the
corruption in this country.

In Pakistan, politics has long been about compromise rather than conviction. Political parties run
on expediency, not ideology, which makes it possible to cobble together all manner of oddball
coalitions. The political leadership, which sets the country’s ethical standards, sadly in Pakistan’s case,
set examples of worst governance, exploitation of public office as an opportunity for self-enrichment,
looting of the public coffers, massive incompetence and betrayal of public trust. Regrettably, the
democracy in its true essence never took a firm hold. Resultantly, the attainment of rule of the law and
independent institutions remained elusive. The accountability mechanism was either not in place or
when it was, it was simply a travesty of accountability. Convicting on the selective, leveling untenable
corruption allegation against the political rivals and presidential orders like ‘National Reconciliation
Order’ in the name of accountability dealt a severe blow to the anti-corruption measures. Living in this
politically corrupt environment, the corruption found a perfect habitat for growth and spill over.

Our societal ethos and basic tenets encourages corruption. Society venerates the rich and
resourceful while honesty, integrity and fairness are mocked at. Stories of college drop-outs becoming
billionaires are hailed rather than heralding the altruistic people! Corrupt are no longer ostracized, graft
money is ostentatiously displayed but no one raises finger at it, rather it is considered as part of the
success story. The societal appreciation of the rich and powerful while paying no appreciation to

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integrity has silenced the voice of the consciousness against these mal-practices. Moreover, only multi-
millionaires swanking in exotic cars, living in the palatial houses are depicted by media. This is the
against the ground realities of this country, where majority of the population lives on less than $2 a day!
Thus media paints a tantalizing world which is probably difficult to achieve by fair means. Resultantly,
envious people are lured into immoral activities and myopically scramble to get these material objects
by any means.

The challenge is to understand why, when faced with temptation, officials engage in corruption,
and why the public often colludes. At the individual level, corruption results from need or greed
combined with opportunity, when there is low fear of detection and/or punishment. The need or greed
element of corruption must be understood in its wider context by which the system fails to provide a
viable alternative to corruption. The gigantic population of the country means that there are scant per
capita resources available. The struggle to acquire resources exists throughout world, but here in
Pakistan it has taken a gruesome shape. The country low level of economic development, economic
disparity and poor prospects of prosperity by fair means has resulted in the massive corruption.
Moreover, large family size, social pressures for ostentatious demonstration of wealth and insistence for
dowry prod individuals towards corruption. But why the public colludes? People are themselves
oblivious of their de jure rights and privileges owing to mass illiteracy. The gullible masses even pay for
the services that are free and responsibility of the government. Had there been an educated country,
the situation would have been much different. People tolerate corruption, the social groups and public
do not move against the corrupt. In India Anna Hazare thrust on his government to accepted his
demands regarding the anti-corruption law bill, but Pakistan still waits for its Anna Hazare to stand up.

One particular for of corruption, administrative corruption, rears its ugly head in Pakistan. The
civil servants are considered to be most corrupt, they blatantly and brazenly does corruption and get
away with it with impunity. Because the system is so configured that they scramble into corruption. Civil
servants find themselves inadequately remunerated but with high levels of discretionary powers, they
fell an easy prey to corruption. Those who do not indulge in the financial corruption, when portion of
the society brags their money, the cash-starved civil servant flaunt his power thus the administration
corruptions creeps in.

The transfers and postings of the officials is the travesty of meritocracy. Career progression is
not based on professional skills, objective assessment of performance, contribution to the institution,
and performance in various training courses and critical situations, rather a hand in the glove with a

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political big-wig suffice the aforementioned credentials. Officials operate in politicized environs, where
they rely upon patrons or other influential contacts, thus Protégés are less concerned with the
organization’s service delivery rather more about groveling with their habitués.

The corporate or business sector is not paragon of virtue either, littered with mal-practices;
corruption finds is place at the core. Corporate governance is practiced only in form and not in
substance. Real demand and supply factors have negligible role in shaping the market behavior, which is
predominantly controlled by the middleman or speculators. Counterfeit products have flooded the
markets. There is no effective consumer's rights protection regime. The monopoly control mechanism
has turned out to be of least effect. The Competition commission of Pakistan (CCP) has failed to
dismantle the infamously known cement, sugar and pharmaceutical cartels. Successive governments
failed to develop proper ethical and business standards for the public and private sector. Large-scale
profiteering, hoarding, racketeering and poor market mechanism caused an alarming inflation, a case of
the rich getting richer as the poor getting poorer.

No matter, how rigorous the internal controls or anti-corruption mechanism, there is always a
probability that an evil-genius might find a way to circumvent the procedures. Even in the most
developed nations, multi-billion scams occur. So, the best possible preemptive measure is to imbibe in
the human soul that corruption is morally, socially and religiously bad. Despite having the categorical
injunctions of Islam in this regard, corruption is rampant. The religious leaders probably shoulder the
blame for this. For them jihad only means fighting with non-Muslims but they overlook the real essence
of jihad, which is fighting with oneself, thereby controlling your own whimsical desires.

The menace of corruption creates a sense of insecurity, exacerbates poverty and adds to the
misfortune of the vulnerable segments of the society. It also instills a sense of hopelessness and
despondency. Corruption poses serious threat to the sanctity of ethical and democratic values and
weakens administrative, political and social institutions. The particular deadliness of the corruption
disease lies in its self-perpetuation– any corrupt act sets in motion a vicious cycle and becomes the
source for further acts of corruption. It causes direct loss to the public exchequer, in financial terms, is
difficult to measure, but is significant. Corruption in government spending led to serious reduction in
impact of development. Pakistan’s human development indicators such as literacy rates, life expectancy
and infant mortality have shown little improvement in the past decades and are amongst the worst in
the region. Furthermore, the corruption has saddled the country with high debt which, at approximately
40% of budgetary expenditure. The private sector and commercial enterprise has been stifled by

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corruption. Unnecessary, obstructive and, above all, coercive bureaucracy impedes healthy businesses.
Moreover, the blatant disregard for law and the ostentatious asset accumulation and display by the top
public office holders has led to a decline in the moral standards and values of the society.

Corruption in the police and judiciary has contributed to the breakdown of law and order. In the
absence of inexpensive and effective legal remedies, resort to extra-judicial methods has been on the
rise. There has been a loss of legitimacy of state institutions in the eyes of the populace. Rampant
corruption has also led to the dismissal of four successive elected governments, creating political
instability. This political instability has contributed to Pakistan's vulnerability and lack of regional
security. Finally, corruption, and the lawlessness and inequality it spawns, has tarnished the image of
the country in international arena. It can be safely extrapolated by this massive corruption that Pakistan
is cheating itself of future potential.

Awareness of dire consequences of corruption has existed, as evident from anti-corruption

drives undertaken from time to time. Legal initiatives started with the Prevention of Corruption Act
1947. Laws like Public Representatives (Disqualification) Act 1949 and the Elected Bodies
(Disqualification) Ordinance 1959 were introduced to disqualify corrupt public representatives from
holding public office. However, these crusades against corruption turned out to be a vendetta against
his political opponents.

Anti Corruption agencies were established to curb corruption like FIA (that replaced the Pakistan
Special Police Establishment (PSPE) in 1975), the provincial Anti Corruption Establishments (ACEs), The
Ehtesab Commission, 1996 and Ehtesab Bureau, 1997. Hampered by political interference, these
organizations have proved utterly ineffective. In fact, they are themselves infested with corruption and
lack capacity for the task assigned to them. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) replaced the
Ehtesab Bureau in 1999. A National Anti-Corruption Strategy, which was developed in 2002, offers a
comprehensive plan for tackling corruption. The executing agency, the National Accountability Bureau
(NAB), was endowed with comprehensive powers to investigate and prosecute cases. However, a lack of
political will, coupled with the perceived co-option of the judiciary and the arbitrariness of many anti-
corruption proceedings, are major obstacles in the fight against corruption. The National Reconciliation
Ordinance (NRO) jeopardized the anti-corruption measures by granted blanket immunity for past
corrupt actions, shielding many public officials and political leaders from prosecution. But fortunately, so
to speak, the farce ordinance was declared null and void by the Supreme Court.

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 In terms of international norms, Pakistan has endorsed the ADB-OECD Anti-Corruption Action
Plan in 2001, ratified the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2007 and signed, but not yet
ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Anti-corruption action has produced a mountain of words and hardly a molehill of solid results
in terms of positive change, or, reform, in institutional behavior. Overall, these various anti-corruption
drives and initiatives failed for two reasons. Firstly, the Political Will and capacity to tackle the problem
have been lacking within the political elite. Secondly, all previous commissions and reports put on paper
their findings and recommendations. No way forward for implementation was designed, thus they
remained just recommendations. The government must be mindful of the fact that only the folklore of
corruption and paying mere lip-service to an anti-corruption measures, is not enough. There is a dire
need for a comprehensive, realistic and holistic assessment of the nature, causes and impact of
corruption. Containing corruption on a sustainable basis requires a broader vision, meticulous planning,
and a targeted strategy. The anti-corruption crusade must incorporate awareness, prevention,
monitoring and combating corruption; designed and implemented by a coalition of the state, civil
society and the private sector.

The anti-corruption strategy must rest on four pillars: democratic reform, rule of law, a assertive
civil society and economic development. Political leaders need to set the precedents of fairness, honesty
and integrity. They must understand that politics is a sacred profession; they must not dabble in it for
seizing power or for self-enrichment. They need to do away with the political corruption by holding fair
party election, promoting the people of integrity and formulating their manifestoes on national issues.
Morality cannot be divorced from the constitution. In order to be a member of parliament, a person
must be of “good character”. So anyone commonly known to be disreputable must be chucked out even
if there is no conviction against him.

There is a need to have an across-the-board accountability mechanism. Hitherto, the

accountability was much ado about nothing. The loopholes must be removed and any corrupt, despite
the rank and position, must get a poetic justice. Scandinavian countries are least corrupt probably
because of the minimal rich-poor divide. Ironically, an Asian country, Singapore is also considered
corruption-free by Transparency International. Singapore’s anti-corruption drive mainly rests upon its
stringent implementation. Singapore`s Government Instruction Manual stipulates that both the giver
and the receiver of the bribe are guilty of corruption and are liable to the same punishment. And if the
person involved is a politician, the punishment is even more severe. We need to imitate the same model

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and must show our resolve in implementing the anti-corruption measures in letter and spirit. Every
corrupt must get an expedite justice and a notion must prevail that no one can circumvent the anti-
corruption laws. As the former US President of United states, Mr Bill Clinton, once remarked, it is not
the severity but the certainty of punishment that deters evil doers.

Independence of institutions needs to be ensured, especially the accountability bureau. It must

be empowered and have paraphernalia for detecting, investigating, and prosecuting corrupt. The
number, powers and jurisdiction of accountability courts needs to broadened. The governments of
Nigeria and the Philippines fought the successful legal battles with the Swiss authorities in their bids to
get back the billions looted by Sani Abacha and Ferdinand Marcos. Pakistan must emulate the example
and a close to $97 billion stashed in Swiss banks by the Pakistanis must be claimed and brought back. As
it will convey a categorical message that looters cannot ravel in the looted money any more. Politicians
and civil servants must be barred from borrowing money from any financial institution so as to eliminate
the despicable loan write offs.

The bureaucracy needs to be empowered before asking them of optimum service delivery. It
would be worthwhile to take postings, transfers and promotions out of the ambit of politicians. In
Britain, the bureaucracy is permanent in law and in spirit. If the relations between a minister and the
permanent secretary become irreconcilable, it is the minister who has to go, not the civil servant —
because the civil servant is permanent. In contrast, in our country, the opposite is in vogue that is
hampering the progress. The salaries of public officials have to be at par with the private sector. The
salaries must be pegged to the rate of growth and inflation in the economy. The government`s message
has to be clear. We will pay you well, don`t get involved in corrupt practices. In this regard, the
precedent of Motorway Police is before us. We need to encourage whistle blowing and protect the
whistle blower.

It is not the sole responsibility of government for eliminating corruption nor, in view of the level
and frequency of corruption, the government has the capacity to eradicate corruption. The civil society
and media needs to join hands for realizing a corruption free Pakistan. The much of the onus of
inculcating the honesty and integrity in society lie with the public. The public needs to learn their rights.
They must not pay bribes themselves and should report incidents of corruption to the authorities. Like
charity, the war against corruption begins at home. At the family level, parents needs to imbibe in their
children the right values like integrity, honesty and fairness, and arouse an antipathy towards
corruption. We need to promote excellency and teach our young generation the actual meaning of

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success. The civil society must shun any corrupt elements, so that their looted money becomes a stigma
for them rather than earning a public laud. Moreover, media should take a lead in launching anti-
corruption campaigns. They should conduct investigations and report cases of corruption supported by
facts, estimate the damage done and identify people who are involved in such cases.

“The strongest deterrent (of corruption) is the public opinion which censures and condemns corrupt
persons; in other words, it makes corruption so unacceptable that the stigma of corruption cannot be
washed away even by serving a prison sentence.”

-Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore

Overall, Pakistan has a strong potential for being a reasonably corruption-free society if every
citizen of Pakistan, joins hands together and take some actions to deal with every cause. In the 21st
century we have knowledge and proven mechanism to fight corruption and have the precedents of
countries that fought this menace effectively. Now it is up to the public that it rise to the occasion and
initiate a crusade against corruption. Unquestionably, the corruption free Pakistan will be a more
congenial place to live in.

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WITH `accountability` having become something of a buzzword in Pakistan, there has also
been growing awareness that this process begins with access to information. Across the
world, citizens` ability to access information freely — declared a fundamental human right
by the UN in its very first session in 1946 — has discouraged official corruption and
malpractice, promoted transparent governance and fostered a more open and equitable
society. It is therefore welcome news that the Right to Information Bill has finally been
introduced in the National Assembly. On Tuesday, former information and broadcasting
minister Sherry Rehman succeeded in a task she initiated some seven years ago. In 2004,
she had submitted an initial draft of the bill before the National Assembly calling for key
amendments in the law as it exists and seeking universal access of information. It was never
taken up for discussion. Since then, progress on the matter has been slow with versions of
the bill being submitted for review by the National Assembly in 2006, and again in 2008.

Currently, the right of citizens to information is covered by the Freedom Of Information

Ordinance 2002, a version of a similar 1997 ordinance. And while it does provide a legal
instrument through which the public can claim access to information, it is criticised, among other
reasons, on the grounds that it pertains only to federal ministries and divisions and gives
departments certain procedures and exemptions that render the legislation virtually ineffective in
practice. The 2011 bill proposes to repeal the 2002 ordinance and expands the scope of the
relevant laws, with clauses related to drawing large private companies into the net of
responsibility, providing for whistleblower protection and the imposition of a 14-day turnaround
time on requests for information. If passed into law, it ought to prove significant in terms of
promoting transparency and fairness in departments, government and private, that have great
influence on the lives of the citizenry. As ever, though, much will depend on enforcing and
implementing mechanisms, a matter that the bill reportedly addresses. It must be recognised that
free access to information is a key aspect of good governance.

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