TRANSPARENCY International (TI) on Tuesday issued its 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report on global corruption and found Pakistan under Shehbaz-Imran’s shared rule as more corrupt than before.
Pakistan is declared among those 10 countries which significantly declined on their CPI score.
Surveys of different international bodies which provide data to the TI for its report, show that the data evaluated in case of Pakistan covers both the governments of the PDM and PTI.
Asia’s Pacific report, which is part of the CPI 2022, however, talked about Imran Khan’s government.
The slide in the ranking of the country is shameful as it comes in the backdrop of consistent focus on anti-corruption by the successive governments but persistent of the menace and an increase in its intensity means only lip-service is paid to an issue that assumes greater significance for the future of the country.
It is all the more regrettable that institutions created to nip the evil have been rendered controversial with a tainted image because of political victimization of the opponents and misuse of the so-called plea-bargain clause of the accountability law.
It is also unfortunate that PTI, which came to power with the slogan of holding the corrupt accountable, badly failed in implementing its agenda in a fair and transparent manner as its anti-corruption campaign zeroed in on the opposition while giving free hand to those who joined its rank and advanced its political agenda.
A number of scams surfaced during PTI rule prompting the then Prime Minister to order investigations but none of the scandal was taken to its logical conclusion and the drive proved to be hollow sloganeering.
No doubt, the incumbent Government too could not take any substantial measure to check rampant corruption, perhaps due to the fragile nature of the coalition and the fact that there were hostile set ups in the provinces.
The judiciary too has been focusing only on high profile cases and even those were pursued in a lopsided manner.
Pakistan has been bestowed with rich resources and has the potential to grow and prosper, provided the instance of corruption is addressed in a fair and comprehensive manner and rule of law is upheld at all costs.
