ISLAMABAD: Arm-twisting by the corruption-plagued PPP-led coalition government has prevented the respected institution, Transparency International Pakistan (TIP), from producing its annual survey this year — the National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) 2011, which lists countries on the scale of corruption.
The Chairman TIP, Adil Gilani, told The News that the IBA, which conducted this survey in 2010 for the TIP, has expressed its reluctance to do it this year. Gilani said that the IBA administration, when contacted this year to do the survey (NCPS 2011), has shown its reluctance for the reason that its students have been harassed by the government agencies for their last year’s work.
Gilani, who too was harassed by the government for highlighting serious cases of corruption and the rising trend of the menace in the country, said that there would be no NCPS 2011, which is generally launched in June every year.
The TIP-government relations became bad in 2010 because the rulers were extremely displeased with the successive Transparency reports showing the present PPP regime as amongst the most corrupt entities in the world.
Last year’s survey — NCPS 2010 — showed 70 percent of the Pakistanis perceived President Asif Ali Zardari’s government more corrupt than former dictator General Pervez Musharraf. According to the NCPS 2010, the overall corruption in 2010 increased to an awe-inspiring level of Rs223 billion,
The TIP last year while launching the survey had observed that the credibility of Pakistan was almost at the lowest level, which is evident from the fact that there had been no funding in the previous two years from the Friends of Pakistan trust fund, being managed by the World Bank.
The most corrupt sector has been ‘Tendering’ which, according to 2010 NCPS, ate away at least 40 percent of Pakistan’s development budget, and this was confirmed from the results of transparent tendering for transportation of sugar in the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), where it saved at least Rs49.3 million by implementing the Public Procurement Rules 2004, which was 40 percent lower than the cost of same work awarded last year.
The TIP pressed that Pakistan needs to address corruption with full political will as was being demonstrated by the judiciary. However, in reality the government has accepted corruption as a norm and has started covering up corruption cases involving billions of taxpayers’ money.
The Transparency International Pakistan has been warning that unless urgent measures are taken, the time is not far when Pakistan may also be equated to Afghanistan in corruption. It is, therefore, necessary that the rule of law is brought back to Pakistan.
The Transparency International Pakistan has been warning that unless urgent measures are taken, the time is not far when Pakistan may also be equated to Afghanistan in corruption. It is, therefore, necessary that the rule of law is brought back to Pakistan.
Findings of Pakistan National Corruption Perception Survey 2010 showed lack of accountability, lack of merit, and low salaries as the three main reasons of corruption. It was said that the NAB has not taken any action against those responsible for Rs323 billion corruption, reported by the AGP, and promised on the floor of the assembly by minister of law.
The NCPS 2009 had shown corruption to have surged by whopping 400 percent in the last three years. The 2009 report indicated that the overall corruption in 2002 had increased from Rs45 billion to Rs195 billion in 2009.
The NCPS 2009 had shown corruption to have surged by whopping 400 percent in the last three years. The 2009 report indicated that the overall corruption in 2002 had increased from Rs45 billion to Rs195 billion in 2009.
Transparency International reports have also shown Pakistan jumping fast to attain the top-most positions amongst the most corrupt nations. Pakistan, which was 47th most corruption country in the world in 2008, became 42nd most corrupt in 2009. In 2010, Pakistan, because of increasing corruption, further improved as a corrupt state and emerged as the 34th most-corrupt country in the world.
Instead of checking corruption and improving Pakistan’s image, the government has started using third-rate tactics to bar independent international organisations from assessing the levels of corruption in the country. Such has been the situation that no less than the chairman of the TIP Adil Gilani started receiving threats. He was also involved by the government-controlled FIA in an alleged corruption case to prevent him from producing reports of corruption.
