Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has released a stunning survey, putting land administration at the top of the most corrupt government departments while police, taxation, judiciary and the power sector occupy second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively. In addition to this, the TIP has observed that the military is least corrupt, after the education sector. These findings are a source of terrible embarrassment for the nation. The police force has fallen to the second position from first, taxation climbed up by five places from last year’s eighth, judiciary moved to the fourth position as compared to last year’s sixth and the power sector improved by two positions to end up at fifth.
The Supreme Court starting with the NRO, has so far taken suo moto action in at least half a dozen cases of corruption and recovered billions of rupees plundered by those holding official positions. Be it NICL, Steel Mills, PIA, Wapda, Railways, KESC, the officials concerned have ruthlessly looted the national wealth. Although government functionaries spend much of their time paying lip service, maintaining they respect the Supreme Court, its decisions are far from being implemented. Instead, the government has chosen to adopt a defiant attitude. The question is, that if ministers and secretaries are found to be involved in corruption scandals, then who will guard the guards? A federal minister and a director general Haj are languishing in jail on serious charges. The same minister has gone so far as to accuse the Prime Minister’s son of accepting a very expensive automobile as graft. Another federal minister returned millions of rupees to save his skin. Yet another former federal minister is accused of accepting huge funds for granting contracts to a foreign firm for producing electricity. The examples of governance go from bad to worse. And yet the president, in his speech at Garhi Khuda Bukhash, claimed having implemented 80 per cent of his party manifesto and the Prime Minister speaking on the floor of the National Assembly declared that all his pledges for the welfare of the people had been fulfilled. An unsettling claim to have made given the state of affairs.