A noisy debate has been raging between the government and its opponents as well as in the national and social media does Pakistan stand in combating corruption under the present government since Transparency International released its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2020.
A noisy debate has been raging between the government and its opponents as well as in the national and social media does Pakistan stand in combating corruption under the present government since Transparency International released its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2020.
According to the London-based anti-corruption independent watchdog’s report, Pakistan has lost four spots in CPI ranking 124 out of the 180 countries in the world, showing that public sector corruption perception has slighting worsened in the past one year.
The country also slightly lost its position in the Rule of Law Index and Varieties of Democracies in the same period.
The report should have generated a healthy debate and pointed out loopholes in the country’s anti-corruption strategy and should have also made suggestions to institutionalize these efforts to make them credible at the international level. But, unfortunately, the debate has degenerated into political point-scoring and name calling competition.
The government’s response to the Transparency International CPI report was also far from satisfactory. Prime Minister Imran Khan initially welcomed the report but maintained that its findings about Pakistan was based on data collected during the previous regime and hence previous rulers should be responsible for this perception.
But when follow-up checks showed that the report was largely based on data collected during the present government, the government leaders including Prime Minister himself said that they have not read the report.
One of the reasons behind the recent media hype over the report was that Mr Khan himself had been touting same reports of Transparency International and other watchdogs in the past to establish his points that his predecessors were indulged in massive corruption and that’s why he and his ministers were made to answer questions when a damning report was released during their own government.
Corruption has become a buzzword in Pakistani politics for over three to four decade but hardly any genuine effort was made to combat this menace in an effective manner.
Political corruption became rampant in Pakistan in the 1980s during the military dictatorship but the political governments which were formed in the 1990s also failed to make genuine effort to combat it rather they themselves were accused of promoting and patronizing corrupt practices.
The decade of civilian rule from 1988-1999 led to fourth military rule in the country.
Accountability was made top priority of then military ruler but this process was very soon found out to be a witch-hunt for the political rivals instead of a credible effort to wipe out corruption from the national fabric. The recently-revealed “Broadsheet scandal” has showed that how dubious deals were made at that time to hound political rivals.
Moreover, the Supreme Court judgement in the Khawaja Saad Rafique case also elaborately discussed that how National Accountability Bureau (NAB) set up by General Musharraf regime was used for “political engineering” to win loyalties of politicians in support of the regime.
There is a general perception even now that NAB is being used to victimize the political rivals of the present government.
Imran Khan fought the 2018 election on a single-point agenda that he would make accountability of the corrupt people his top priority if he came into power.
But with more than half way through his five-year term in government, there is a growing perception in the country that the accountability process spearheaded by the NAB under the Imran Khan government targets only his political rivals while his political allies facing grave corruption charges go scot-free.
The Prime Minister often accuse his opponents of exerting pressure on him to drop corruption cases against him but critics point out contrastingly such cases are conveniently dropped against those supporting his government.
The NAB recently dropped 21-year old graft cases against Chaudhries of Gujrat, the main allies of the PTI government in the center and in Punjab province.
Moreover, critics say, as happened in the Musharraf regime, the NAB under the present government is focused on political corruption alone and makes no effort to unearth corrupt practices in other segments of society particularly those often referred to as “sacred cows”.
A non-discriminatory, impartial and an all-encompassing accountability process is a must to make it a credible and genuine effort aimed at weeding out corruption from the society.
Moreover, critics argue the general perception about accountability in the country is to arrest and punish corrupt elements while no effort is made to discourage people from resorting to corrupt practices.
Unless strong and robust reforms aimed at curbing corruption at the institutional level are not introduced this menace cannot be controlled.
The parliament is the top forum in any democratic dispensation to introduce such reforms but unfortunately this platform is widely used for blame game and name calling.
Like in any third world and developing country, corruption is deep rooted in our society and it cannot be uprooted overnight. Moreover, there are no quick fixes and there is need for a long and sustained effort to address this scourge.
But a serious and genuine start should be made to establish its credibility in the eyes of public and the world at large.
To achieve this goal, one has to face many challenges and it needs a strong political will to surmount the hurdles created in this crusade.
This war cannot be waged on mere sloganeering but the words need to be matched with deeds.
Moreover, men of credibility should be engaged to launch this crusade who can do their duties without any fear and retribution.
In short, credibility of the persons and institutions running accountability drive needs to be established before actually launching the drive. Moreover, this process must be across-the-board, non-discriminatory and ruthless. Additionally, this campaign should be fully backed up and supported by all institutions of the country without any exception.
It must also be ensured that this campaign is carried out in a fair and transparent manner and nothing should be hidden from the public.
Any effort missing these basic elements would be nothing but another exercise in futility which must be avoided.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad
