anti corruption essay in pakistan

Corruption In Pakistan Essay | 500 Words & 800 Words

by Pakiology | Aug 19, 2024 | Essay , English | 2 comments

Page Contents

1) 500 Words Essay On Corruption In Pakistan

2) 800 words essay on corruption in pakistan, understanding corruption in pakistan, the causes of corruption in pakistan, the consequences of corruption in pakistan, the way forward: tackling corruption in pakistan.

Corruption is a pervasive problem in Pakistan that has negatively impacted the country’s economy and political stability. It is the abuse of public office for private gain, and it is a major obstacle to Pakistan’s development.

There are many causes of corruption in Pakistan, including a lack of transparency in government institutions, weak law enforcement, and a lack of accountability. In addition, corruption is often seen as a way for people to get ahead in a society that is plagued by inequality and a lack of opportunities.

One of the most prominent forms of corruption in Pakistan is corruption in the public sector. Government officials often demand bribes from citizens in order to provide them with services that they are entitled to, such as issuing licenses or permits. This not only undermines the rule of law but also discourages investment and stifles economic growth.

Another major problem in Pakistan is corruption in the private sector. Companies often bribe government officials in order to secure contracts or other favors, which can lead to inefficient and wasteful use of public resources. This not only harms the economy but also undermines public trust in the government and private institutions.

There are several factors that contribute to the high levels of corruption in Pakistan. One of the main reasons is the lack of accountability and transparency in the country’s political and economic systems. This allows corrupt individuals to operate with impunity, as they are able to conceal their activities and avoid being held accountable for their actions.

Another contributing factor is the widespread poverty in Pakistan. Many people are willing to engage in corrupt activities in order to make ends meet, as they see it as a means of surviving in a difficult economic environment.

Furthermore, corruption is often perpetuated by a lack of strong institutions and effective laws to prevent and punish it. In many cases, the government and law enforcement agencies are themselves involved in corrupt activities, which makes it difficult to address the problem.

The consequences of corruption in Pakistan are severe. It undermines the rule of law and weakens public trust in the government, leading to social and political instability. It also hinders economic development and stifles entrepreneurship, as it creates an uneven playing field for businesses and discourages investment.

In order to combat corruption in Pakistan, it is essential for the government to implement strong legal frameworks and institutional mechanisms to promote accountability and transparency. This could include measures such as stricter laws against corruption, better oversight of public officials and institutions, and improved access to information for the general public.

Additionally, there needs to be a cultural shift in the country towards greater integrity and honesty. This can be achieved through education and awareness-raising campaigns, as well as by encouraging a sense of social responsibility among the people of Pakistan.

In conclusion, corruption is a major challenge in Pakistan that needs to be addressed in order to promote economic development and political stability. By implementing effective legal frameworks and promoting a culture of integrity, it is possible to combat corruption and build a more just and prosperous society.

Pakistan, a country known for its rich cultural heritage, is facing numerous challenges in its journey toward becoming a developed nation. One of the most persistent and widespread issues that the country has been grappling with is corruption. Corruption in Pakistan has reached a level where it is not only hampering the economic growth of the country but also undermining the social and political fabric.

Corruption can be defined as the abuse of power or position for personal gain. It takes many forms, from bribery and embezzlement to nepotism and fraud. In Pakistan, corruption has permeated all levels of society, from the lowest echelons to the highest. It has become so widespread that it is now considered a norm in the country.

There are several factors that have contributed to the high levels of corruption in Pakistan. Some of the major causes include:

Lack of effective government institutions:

The government institutions in Pakistan are not strong enough to prevent corruption. There is a lack of accountability and transparency in the workings of these institutions, making it easier for corrupt officials to carry out their activities without fear of consequences.

Political instability:

Political instability has been a constant in Pakistan’s history, which has contributed to widespread corruption in the country. When political leaders are more focused on retaining power and advancing their own interests, they are less likely to prioritize the fight against corruption.

Poverty and income inequality:

Poverty and income inequality are also contributing factors to corruption in Pakistan. When people are struggling to make ends meet, they may be more likely to engage in corrupt activities to earn extra income.

Weak rule of law:

The weak rule of law in Pakistan has also contributed to the high levels of corruption in the country. When laws are not enforced and the justice system is unable to hold corrupt officials accountable, it is easier for corruption to thrive.

The consequences of corruption in Pakistan are far-reaching and damaging. Some of the major consequences include:

Hampering economic growth:

Corruption has a significant impact on the economy of the country. It undermines investment and creates an environment that is hostile to business. This leads to lower economic growth, less job creation, and decreased prosperity for the people of Pakistan.

Undermining social and political fabric:

Corruption not only undermines the economy but also the social and political fabric of the country. When people lose faith in the government and its institutions, it creates a void that can be filled by extremist and extremist ideologies.

Impeding development:

Corruption also impedes development by diverting resources away from areas that need them most. When public funds are misused or stolen, it means that schools, hospitals, and other public services are not receiving the support they need to provide quality services to the people.

Discouraging foreign investment:

Corruption can also discourage foreign investment, as investors are less likely to invest in a country where they perceive a high risk of corruption. This means that the country misses out on the benefits of foreign investment, such as job creation and economic growth.

Tackling corruption in Pakistan will require a multi-faceted approach that involves the government, civil society, and the private sector. Some of the measures that could be taken include:

Strengthening government institutions:

The government must take steps to strengthen its institutions and make them more accountable and transparent. This can be done by implementing effective anti-corruption measures, such as setting up independent watchdog agencies and increasing transparency in the workings of government institutions.

Improving the rule of law:

The government must also work to improve the rule of law in the country, by enforcing laws and regulations that prevent corruption, and by ensuring that corrupt officials are held accountable.

Encouraging civil society engagement:

Civil society can play an important role in tackling corruption in Pakistan, by raising awareness about the issue, advocating for reforms, and monitoring government activities.

Promoting ethics and integrity:

The private sector can also play a role by promoting ethics and integrity in their own operations, and by supporting anti-corruption initiatives.

Increasing transparency and accountability:

The government must also take steps to increase transparency and accountability in its operations, by making its activities more open and accessible to the public.

Providing education and training:

The government can provide education and training to its citizens, particularly the youth, on the dangers and consequences of corruption, and on the importance of integrity and ethical behavior.

In conclusion, corruption in Pakistan is a major barrier to development, and it is essential that the government, civil society, and private sector work together to tackle this issue. While there is no easy solution to corruption, the steps outlined above, if implemented effectively, can help to reduce corruption and create a more prosperous and just society in Pakistan.

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Essay on Corruption in Pakistan

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Publications - Study Papers

Corruption - an inherent element of democracy in pakistan.

The 2016 Panama Papers that were leaked, brought to light the corrupt activities of the then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Allegations related to his family's ownership of properties in Central London, which all had an unclear money trail background, were bought into question. The Supreme Court voted unanimously for his disqualification from serving as the Prime Minister on the 28 th of July 2017, and despite initially denying any wrongdoing, shortly after the verdict, Mr. Sharif formally resigned from office anyhow.

No Pakistani Prime Minister has ever completed the five-year long Government term, essentially this comes down to the fact that all Heads of Government have been dismissed due to charges of corruption. This paper aims to demonstrate how corruption has proved to be an irreplaceable ingredient in the history of Pakistani democratic rule of law. Corruption in general has plagued the country and has infiltrated the socio-economic and political landscape. From Heads of State, to judiciary and to local police officers, corruption has found to be present in many areas of Pakistan’s society. However, the paradox pertains that none of the Military Generals have ever faced a verdict for corrupt practices. This enforces the question of whether Army governance is the answer to terminating corruption in Pakistan, or whether it is fundamentally down to the fragile criminal justice institutions who do not have the courage to pursue responsibility from the Military, but do so only for the civil Administration. For the purposes of this paper, first the theoretical foundation of the corruption phenomenon will be discussed, followed by an analysis and a historical overview of the cases of Pakistani officials, allegedly involved in such conduct.

Introduction

The orthodox definition of corruption is the abuse of entrusted power by an individual in position of authority who has responsibilities to the public. Such fraudulent behaviour often implies pursuit of personal gains. Corruption has a very broad spectrum and encapsulates, for instance, misuse of State assets by Governmental bodies, payment of kickbacks in illicit transactions, bribes, embezzlements, misappropriation of funds and public resources, extortion and nepotism. Yet, it could manifest itself through less obvious activities that are deemed legal or borderline legitimate, such as lobbying or State capture, where a party’s political self-interest controls the country’s decision-making course of action in order to achieve its own goals through concealed means. The various meanings of corruption indicate that it is a fluid and volatile concept. Corruption is perceived through numerous conflicting and overlapping terms, yet the prevailing ones are of illegality and breach of duty. Corruption is a reflection of the cultural, political and economic framework of a given State and as such, corruption could be an answer to inadequate or disadvantageous regulations generated by officials. When institutions responsible for oversight of rules are acting inefficiently, or incompetent individuals are placed in a position of power, people could take advantage of these asymmetries of monitoring and get around the enacted law.

Corruption could arise at different levels. Petty corruption is found at the execution end of public services, where the citizens encounter State representatives, whereas grand scale corruption, comprises the highest strata of governance and requires deeper infiltration into the political, judicial and economical establishments. If a State fails in curbing its malfeasance due to organizational shortcomings, political, economic or social instability, corruption might become endemic, pervade the system and lead to a sustainable corrupt hierarchy. Indicators of systematic corruption are conflicting interests, discretionary policies, low degree of transparency, monopolization of power, scarce wages and freedom from liability. Nevertheless, these indexes are not enough to detect corruption, since it is a clandestine affair difficult to observe and estimate.

Corruption in Pakistan

Pakistan has struggled with the problem of corruption since it came into being in 1947, directly after the partition of British India. As a result, Pakistan inherited not only the British legal framework, but also the institutions prominent with their powerful bureaucratic elite trained to serve British rule. In addition, the anti-corruption laws of Pakistan were set up to protect the political entity rather than the society at large. Considering this, it does not come as a surprise that the anti-corruption laws were virtually separated from the public’s interests. The subsequent changes in regimes between Military and civilian institutions due to multiple successful coups d’états further impaired and diminished the efficacy of the anti-corruption bodies. Such statement could be validated by observing the lack of any major improvements concerning tackling corruption in any civilian government. This article aims to highlight that the same applies for the military, even though it has opportunely remained absent from the public domain. Quintessentially, Pakistan has always been governed by a permanent bureaucracy.

Under Pakistani laws, corruption is designated as a crime and corrupt officials are held accountable and are subject to severe punishment, yet this takes place chiefly on paper since often society tends to normalise and excuse certain fraudulent activities. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), established by the Military government in 1999, is the main anti-corruption agency, which tackles cases of corruption, yet it is highly constrained by scarce funding and shortages of personnel. The anti-corruption laws consider any abuse of public power as a crime deserving of up to 14 years of imprisonment, however, no one has ever been subject to this verdict. In societies with high degrees of social polarisation, such as Pakistan, social conditions tend to induce an environment where the use of public power for personal gains is likely to obtain social recognition and appreciation. This could be perceived as the ‘moral view of corruption’ , where an act of corruption derives its legitimacy from a context in which a holder of public office receives and returns favour to his kinship, associates and followers.

Case Studies incriminating Democratic Prime Ministers

Nawaz sharif.

Nawaz Sharif’s history of fraudulent conduct dates back long before the Panama-Gate scandal. As President of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and owner of Ittefaq Group, a major steel mill conglomerate, he has been one of the wealthiest Pakistani business magnates and industrialists, and also one of the most prominent Pakistani political figures for the last three decades. As a protégé of the longest serving Head of State, the Military leader General Zia ul-Haq, who was in power from 1977 to 1988, Sharif was first appointed as the Minister of Finance for the province of Punjab. Patronaged by an unstable coalition of conservatives, he was elected as the Chief Minister of Punjab in 1985, re-elected in 1988 and eventually succeeded in becoming the Nation's Prime Minister in 1990. Nevertheless, later on it was alleged that the election was manipulated by the powerful Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), channelling millions of Rupees into his election campaign. 

Sharif's first Administration was terminated when the then President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed him on corruption charges. Although the Supreme Court overturned the dismissal, both men were ultimately pressured to resign in 1993 by the then Army Chief Abdul Waheed Kakar, which eventually precipitated the 1993 General Elections, when Benazir Bhutto came into power. After becoming Prime Minister again, in 1997, Nawaz Sharif appeared to exercise control over the political landscape and the country's major institutions, yet his second term also suffered discords with the Judiciary and the Military. Sharif was forced to relieve General Jehangir Karamat from command, despite the latter’s support in the authorisation of Pakistan’s nuclear tests programme in 1998. Many senior State officials fiercely expressed their criticism and showed opposition to the Prime Minister for acting in such manner. The former Treasury Minister Sartaj Aziz’s in a retrospect claimed that:

“It came to the conclusion that in relieving General Jehangir Karamat, Prime Minister Sharif had committed a "blunder". He also failed to recognize that despite his heavy mandate, it was not advisable for him to dismiss two army chiefs in less than a year. In doing so he had overplayed his hands and effectively derailed the democratic process for nine long years...”

The question remains, what sort of democratic process was present in Pakistan if the Army, indeed, was pulling the strings. General Karamat was replaced with General Pervez Musharraf in 1998, whose initiation of the Kargil War against India led to a deterioration of his relation with Sharif. When Nawaz Sharif attempted to relieve Musharraf from his command on 12 th  of October 1999, the Military staged a successful coup d'état and overthrew the Prime Minister and his Government. Mr. Sharif was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of corruption, kidnapping, attempted murder, and hijacking and terrorism over the diversion of Musharraf's plane when it was low on fuel, alongside with prohibition for life for any involvement in political activities. Mr. Sharif's overthrow by Musharraf illustrated the perilous reality for any Pakistani politician who has tried to limit the Army’s influence in Pakistan with its history of coups.

Fortunately for him, a deal arranged by the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, rescued him from being put behind bars and instead he was exiled to Saudi Arabia.  At that time many Pakistanis felt relief, portraying him as corrupt, inexperienced and driven by thirst for power and dominance. His return at the political stage in 2007, following negotiations with the Army, was met by surprise and his victory in 2013 was even a greater shock. However, one of the reasons behind his return, was Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming after a self-imposed exile in London and Dubai. Saudi Arabia argued that if Pakistan could accept a democratic-socialist female leader, alleged to be involved in large scale corruption, to return to the country, then the conservative Sharif who was also under verdict should be allowed to come back as well.

The Panama Papers trial has banned Nawaz Sharif once again from public office, yet it still remains to be seen whether the ‘three strikes and out’ doctrine exists on Pakistani soil.

Benazir Bhutto & Asif Ali Zardari

Benazir Bhutto, daughter of the Former Pakistani Prime Minister and President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and also an Oxford and Harvard graduate, has always presented herself as the guardian of the deprived and underprivileged and a promoter of freedom of democracy. In a Harvard commencement speech in 1989, she argued how the greedy politicians have pillaged the resources of developing countries, used and betrayed their common people and stripped them off from the means necessary to address their socio-economic problems.

During her two terms in office as Prime Minister, the first ever woman who became a Head of a Muslim State, she acquired wealth, assets and property worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Her first Government was dismissed on the 6 th of August 1990 by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan after she was accused of corruption. After the dismissal, the Pakistani Government released orders to the Inter-Services Intelligence to investigate the accusations and when Nawaz Sharif became the new Prime Minister the prosecution proceedings against Benazir Bhutto were additionally reinforced. Pakistani Embassies through Western Europe, such as in France, Switzerland, Poland, Spain and Britain were directed to investigate the matter further.

The corruption past of Benazir Bhutto became apparent during the ruling of the Pakistani Army Chief, General Pervez Musharraf, when an informant leaked documents which were obtained from Jens Schlegelmich, her Swiss lawyer and a close family friend. The original price the seller stated was $ 10 million, yet eventually the deal was concluded at $1 million in cash. The leaked papers comprised of bank statements from various accounts in Dubai and Geneva; letters from senior officials promising payoffs, with details of the made payments; memorandums detailing meetings at which these “commissions” and “remunerations” were agreed on, and certificates incorporating the offshore companies used as fronts in the deals, many registered in the British Virgin Islands. The documents also uncovered the essential role played by Western institutions in sealing the deals. Apart from the companies that made payoffs, and the network of banks that handled the money - which included Barclay’s Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland as well as Citibank - the arrangements made by the Bhutto family for their wealth relied on Western property companies, Western lawyers and a network of Western friends.

Benazir Bhutto hails from a family of large landowners, who have dominated the political landscape and business scene in Pakistan since its creation in 1947. Benazir’s father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was also an Oxford graduate who became Pakistan’s Prime Minister in the 1970s, but was dislodged and imprisoned in 1977 when the then Army Chief, General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, staged a coup d’etat. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged two years later, after he refused Zia’s offer of clemency for a murder conviction that many Pakistanis viewed as politically stained. Benazir Bhutto spent the next 10 years under house arrest, in prison and in self-imposed exile, campaigning against Zia’s military regime.

In 1987, Benazir married Asif Ali Zardari. The marriage was arranged and many among the public were shocked by the differences in socio-economic status between the husband and the wife. To a certain degree, the marriage aimed to protect Benazir’s political career by countering conservative Muslims’ comments on her unmarried status.

In 1988, Benazir became Pakistan’s first female Prime Minister, after General Zia u-Haq was killed in a plane crash. In less than 2 years, Benazir was dismissed by Pakistan’s President on grounds of corruption and misrule. The Government of Nawaz Sharif that succeeded her was unable to secure any convictions against Benazir or her husband before Nawaz Sharif himself, in turn, was ousted from office, also for corruption and misrule. When Benazir Bhutto was in power again in 1993, the twin posts, as Prime Minister and Finance Minister, gave her almost a free rein. She appointed her husband as the Investment Minister in 1996, reporting only to herself, which virtually made him Bhutto’s right hand.

Among the transactions which her husband Asif Ali Zardari exploited, according to the leaked documents, were Defence contracts; power plant projects; the privatization of State-owned industries; the awarding of broadcast licenses; the granting of an export monopoly for the country’s huge rice harvest; the purchase of planes for Pakistan International Airlines; the assignment of textile export quotas; the granting of oil and gas permits; authorizations to build sugar mills, and the sale of Government lands. The couple struggled to avoid the creation of any trail documents that would reveal their role in numerous deals and Benazir Bhutto and Zardari established a secretive method of communication by writing orders on yellow Post-It notes and attaching them to official files. After the deals were finalised, the notes were removed, destroying all trace of involvement.

In 1995, a prominent French military contractor, Dassault Aviation, determined an agreement with Asif Ali Zardari and one of his associates for $200 million for a $4 billion - 32 Mirage 2000-5 Fighter Planes, which were supposed to replace two squadrons of American made F-16's. The American purchase was terminated when the Bush Administration determined in 1990 that Pakistan was covertly developing nuclear weapons. Eventually the deal collapsed when Benazir Bhutto was ousted from office. In another large scale financial scheme, a Middle Eastern gold bullion dealer, Abdul Razzak Yaqub, was alleged in depositing at least $10 million into a Citibank account in the United Arab Emirates in Dubai operated by Mr. Zardari, after the Bhutto Government gave him a monopoly on gold imports that maintained the jewellery industry of Pakistan. Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast has long been a haven for gold smugglers. Until Bhutto's second term, the trade, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, was under no supervision and control, with large amounts of bullions, carried on planes and boats which travelled between the Persian Gulf and the generally unprotected Pakistani coast.

The couple also made an impressive profit from increasing Pakistan’s customs revenues. Taking into account that very few Pakistanis actually pay income tax, customs revenues generate the State’s largest profits. The system has been corrupted for many years, with businesses often paying bribes to escape obligations. In the 1980s, the International Monetary Fund pushed Islamabad to rise its Government revenues and to reduce the runaway budget deficit. During Benazir Bhutto’s first term, Pakistan commissioned pre-shipment audits for all major imports to two Swiss companies, Societe Generale de Surveillance and a subsidiary, Cotecna Inspection SA. However, the real objective behind this attempt in improving the financial stability of Pakistan was bringing about profit for Bhutto and Zardari, as both the Swiss companies were generating a handsome amount of money by issuing certificates under-invoicing as well as sharing the profit with those in control, through illegal means under the hidden support of the people in power. This is not unique solely for Pakistan as these Swiss companies have allegedly been involved in corruption in numerous countries, such as in Bangladesh. According to the conducted investigations, the two Swiss companies made more than $131 million from inspecting imports into Pakistan from January 1995 to March 1997, from which the Bhutto family’s cut was $11.8 million.

The investigators’ inquiry of Benazir’s two terms in office unravelled a chain of luxurious overseas properties under the name of her husband and other family members. Among these are various extravagant apartments in London, such as the Rockwood, a 355-acre estate, and a $2.5 million country mansion in Normandy, which is known as the House of the White Queen. Islamabad also requested the U.S. Justice Department to investigate other overseas bank accounts and properties, including a country club and a polo ranch in Palm Beach, Florida said to be worth about $4 million, which were purchased by Zardari’s affiliates in the 1990s.

After Benazir Bhutto was expelled from office under charges of corruption in 1996, she was sentenced to five years in prison alongside with her husband. Ironically, she persistently argued that they were deprived from a fair trial in Pakistan, since Pakistan’s judiciary has a history of corruption, where witnesses, judges and prosecutors are easily bought and sold. Mr Zardari’s criminal background was not limited only to the corruption charges, and he was also held for 14 months in the Karachi Central Prison, under charges of murdering Ms. Bhutto's brother.

All the aforementioned accumulation of wealth by the Bhuttos is virtually non-existent if their declared assets and income tax declarations are being reviewed. Benazir Bhutto and Zardari declared properties worth $1.2 million in 1996 and never made the authorities aware of any foreign accounts or properties, as required by Law. Mr. Zardari declared no net assets at all in 1990, the year Ms. Bhutto's first term ended, and only $402,000 in 1996. The highest income Ms. Bhutto declared was $42,200 in 1996, with $5,110 in tax. In two of her years as Prime Minister, 1993 and 1994, she paid no income tax at all. Mr. Zardari's highest declared income was $13,100, also in 1996.

Ultimately, on 6 th  of August 2003, Swiss Judges found Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari guilty of money laundering. They were given six-month suspended jail terms, fined $50,000 each and were ordered to pay $11 million to the Pakistani government.

Yousaf Raza Gillani

Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 th  of March 2008 until his retroactive disqualification and dismissal from office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 th of April 2012. He, alike his predecessors, has been accused of various corruption scandals.

He was arrested on 11 th  of February 2001 by the Military Police functioning under the umbrella of the military-controlled National Accountability Bureau (NAB), over charges that he abused his position of authority while he was the Speaker of the National Assembly from 1993 until 1997. He was particularly alleged with hiring up to 600 people from among his constituents and placing them on Government payroll. He was also alleged in misplacing millions of Rupees through the misuse of official transport, official telephones, setting up of camp offices at Lahore and Multan and purchase of luxurious vehicles at higher prices than the market prices. The NAB claimed that the Pakistani Treasury suffered a loss of more than 30 million Rupees nationally, due to Gillani’s actions. He was convicted to five years rigorous imprisonment by an accountability Court and a fine of 1 million Rupees. The court also barred Gillani from holding public office or obtaining any financial profits from any fiscal institutions for a period of 10 years.

Nevertheless, the legal proceedings against him were widely condemned by various individuals across the country and seen by many as politically motivated, since his party, the Pakistani’s People Party (PPP), was opposing General Pervez Musharraf, who had undertaken a coercion of party members to change political fronts. People with anti-Musharraf sentiments viewed this move as a tactic to intimidate PPP members to join his party. Thus, his conviction by the Courts, which were backing up General Musharraf, and subsequent imprisonment were estimated as an act of loyalty towards the PPP, and benefited him in gathering ideological adherents and sympathizers.

"Since I am unable to oblige them, they decided to convict me so that I could be disqualified and an example set for other political leaders who may learn to behave as good boys”, said Gillani at the time.

Corruption in other Governmental Bodies

Judicial system.

A well-functioning Judicial System is essential for addressing corruption effectively, but judicial institutions are themselves cancerously corruptible. Pakistan's Judiciary is characterised by insufficient resources and staff, and corruption and political interference by powerful actors further present obstacles to impartiality and fairness. Although the Supreme Court portrays itself as efficient, insufficient financial means and lack of personnel, coupled with a high-level of insecurity and high crime rates overburden local Courts and lead to negligent trials perceived as biased.

According to Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) the highest amounts of bribery in the country were spent on people affiliated with the Judiciary. The TIP Chairman, Sohail Muzaffar, along with TIP Advisory Committee Chairman, Syed Adil Gilani in a 2011 survey highlighted the delay in punitive action by State organs against corrupt elements in corruption cases like Pakistan Steel, National Insurance Company Limited (NICL), Punjab Bank, Rental Power Plants, Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Railway and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).

The effectiveness of the Pakistani police varies greatly in the country, and various reports tell of corruption, arbitrary behaviour and human rights abuses from police forces. Police in the country was observed as the most corrupt sector in a 2013 survey by Transparency International. The general population often struggle to report instances of corruption which they encounter with the police because of fear for reprisals. In 2005, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz ordered an investigation into claims by a 23 year old woman who alleged that, in retaliation for attempting to reveal police corruption, the police falsely detained her for fifteen days and raped her.

Public Utilities

Irregular payments, bribes and gifts are commonly exchanged when obtaining public services and licences. The majority of consumers admit to illegally reducing their utility bills, especially water and electricity, while others reported being harassed with inflated bills intended to solicit bribes. In addition to that, one in three companies expects to receive gifts when constructing water connections, generating permits or operating licences.

Corruption among the Pakistani Military

After this overview of the entire spectrum of corruption, which has intoxicated the public and political life in Pakistan, one would undoubtedly place under suspicion the fact that no Pakistani Army General has ever been incriminated in any such acts. If all departments of the Pakistani governmental and public life are implicated in gross corrupt activities, how is it possible that only the Army remains an exception to the rule? Does this mean that military environment is miraculously immune and sterilised from fraudulent and illegal actions, or simply that such ‘incidents’ within the most powerful institution in Pakistan have been conveniently swiped under the carpet?

Although the Pakistani Military is ostensibly responsible for the security and defence affairs of the State, it has proved its strong influence and control on large shares of the economy, despite Pakistan having an elected civilian Government. The Pakistani Army holds a lion's share of the State budget and is not accountable to the Government for its expenditure.

The Military has been widely perceived as the most qualified, efficient and a highly disciplined organization, yet some of its officers have been connected to corruption cases recently. However, scandals involving the Army are oftentimes whitewashed and retired officers are brought back into service in order to deal with their cases through closed-door court-martials. Even if, in rare cases, someone is found guilty, he has never been imprisoned but only forced to step down or stripped of some privileges.

Demands expressed towards military accountability and transparency have never been a popular election slogan because this could bear a high cost for politicians, including the possible divergence of democracy or production of false corruption cases against vocal politicians. It is claimed that in the private circle, both senior and junior Army officers silently admit or at least do not disprove the existence of corruption, yet often they assert that the military has its own internal mechanism, which deals with fraudulent conduct and breach of discipline.

On the 21 st of April, 2016 the then Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif sacked 6 Army officers, including two high-ranking Generals, over allegations of corruption, thus portraying an image of a virtuous man who is committed to eradicate corruption, even at the price of punishing his own people. This was seen by many as an unheard-of act in a country, where the Army still has the final say in Defence, Security, Foreign Affairs matters and virtually all aspects of governance. The dismissed Army officers, who were not tried for corruption, but for ‘financial irregularities’ and ‘misappropriation’ were only sent into early retirement and were deprived from certain privileges. The event came into being when politicians and public officials were also facing huge criticism over their own corruption scandals.

When applying a closer look, one could raise the adequate question of why these corrupt Army personnel were not arrested and awarded with the corresponding legal punishment designated in the Penal Code. The way in which this incident has unfolded feeds the impression that the Pakistan military personnel receives a preferential treatment to the degree of being above the law of the country. By choosing a few scapegoats from the entire herd of black corrupt sheep, General Raheel Sharif attempted to convert himself into a national icon, while undermining the power and image of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was at that time under judicial scrutiny due to the revelations of the Panama papers.

The sacked Army personnel were serving on deputation in the Frontier Corps in Baluchistan, a subsidiary force responsible for maintaining law and order in the conflicts- and insurgency ravaged region. This incident further substantiated the general viewpoint that Baluchistan is governed by a corrupt and fraudulent administration. Apart from the annual aid accommodated by the Federal Government, billions of dollars have been invested there via the criticized and ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Having such astronomical amounts of money deposited in a country with a problematic history of misappropriation of funds, suggest where big chunks of money might end up. The Pakistani Army is culpable of depriving the indigenous people and the region from billions, essential for their development while this form of exploitation is equally present in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan (Part of Jammu & Kashmir State).

Ironically, in 2017, Raheel Sharif, was himself at the epicentre of a controversy after documents, leaked to the media, revealed that he had been given land worth 1.35 billion Rupees ($14 million) by the Army without the authorisation of the Government.  

“The corruption in the Pakistani military is as rampant as in any other state institution. The Army is involved in the smuggling of oil and narcotics through the borders of the western Baluchistan province. The military also makes money through its checkpoints in the restive province. All drivers have to bribe the officers to pass through these posts. These are just a few examples" - Arif Jamal, a US-based Islamism- and security analyst.

What are the solutions to the clandestine corruption in the Military?

Merely the dismissal or the stripping of privileges cannot be seen as the answer, as it does not tackle the root cause of the issue. A matter of even greater concern is the fact that it seems as if only the governmental and public officials are portrayed as corrupt and ineffective, whereas Army personnel in those rare cases where it has been implicated in fraudulent behaviour, is justified as occasionally misguided but still having Pakistan’s best interests at heart. Corruption, money laundering and the illegal purchase of (overseas) assets by Governmental officials, members of the ruling elite in Pakistan and Army personnel  is not a new phenomenon. The pervasiveness of corruption, lack of institutional isomorphism and social cohesion in the country is visible throughout all echelons of public life.

A lion's working hours are only when he is hungry; once he is satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefully together. In Pakistan, however, it seems as if both politicians and Army officers are never able to satisfy their hunger for power and wealth, which leaves the country swinging for decades in a cradle of political anarchy and unlawful rule, where the common people are left vulnerable and helpless, with no prospects for peaceful development. Corruption at the highest levels remains a major challenge for the country and prevents any meaningful step towards social reforms. A change in policy, complemented with strengthening of democratic institutions including the judiciary have become prerequisites for the development of the country.

There is a pressing need of unveiling the truth, irrespective of the culprits, in order for justice to prevail or at least to increase the ‘feel’ among the general masses, that corruption cannot go unpunished.

The people deserve a corruption-free Pakistan, based on mechanisms of accountability led by honest leaders; Civilian and Military.    

October 2017. © European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), Amsterdam

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Why do anti-corruption campaigns fail in Pakistan?

To understand why anti-corruption campaigns fail in Pakistan, we must understand the role of kinship and the impact of periods of military rule

By Dr Nadeem Malik , University of Melbourne

Published 29 July 2021

Corruption is a universal phenomenon that’s present in all countries in varying forms and degrees. It’s also ancient.

There are references to bribery in many of our historic sources – the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi from the 22nd Century BC, Egypt’s 14th Century BC Edict of Horemheb and Kautilya’s Arthashastra from 14th Century BC India.

Corruption in Pakistan is not a new phenomenon.

Its roots date back to the colonial period when the British awarded lands and titles to their loyalists , leading to nepotism and corruption.

Two significant crises played a fundamental role in the genesis of corruption in this part of the world: defence-related purchases during and after World War II and the allotment of evacuee property after the partition of the Indian subcontinent .

Politics & Society

Can Prime Minister Khan really deliver a ‘new’ Pakistan?

The nationalisation policy of the 1970s created new opportunities for corruption and gave birth to a new breed of corrupt government officers, lasting well into the 1980s.

Although public sector corruption was considered an impediment towards development, it gained a growing focus in developing countries as a result of the neoliberal idea of ‘good governance’ introduced by international donors.

This worked on the assumption that governments in developing countries were inefficient, and one of the primary causes of this was the rampant corruption in the public sector.

So, Pakistan’s then-president, General Pervez Musharraf introduced the draconian National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in 1999 in order to follow international donors’ good-governance prescriptions.

Although General Musharraf introduced NAB to ostensibly control corruption, Pakistan’s current Prime Minister, Imran Khan, took it a step further, initiating an ambitious anti-corruption plan (which was the main slogan of his election campaign in 2018).

Both have failed miserably and instead, corruption increased significantly .

Several significant corruption scandals have been reported during the hybrid rule of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Corruption and Australia’s Parliament

According to Transparency International , instead of overcoming corruption, PTI’s government significantly increased it in the past two and a half years.

So why have Imran Khan’s good intentions, when it comes to controlling the widespread corruption in state departments, failed?

This failure is a result of misunderstanding the nature, characteristics, patterns and organisational structure needed to devise anti-corruption strategies.

Since the 1950s, Pakistani politicians have been accused of being corrupt. They are singled out as ‘rotten apples’ ignoring social, political and economic structures and are primarily responsible for “ abuse of public authority for personal gains ” – a Western concept proposed by the famous German sociologist Max Weber .

But there are at least two preconditions required for the application of this concept of corruption.

Firstly, there has to be a sharp distinction between the state and society, implying that the state departments should be insulated from interest groups or kinship ties.

Secondly, kinship societies are ones where individuals exist in relation to others instead of as individuals, but this concept assumes individuals are free of their kinship ties.

For this reason, in countries like Pakistan which are kinship societies, people seek approval of their family members and, in some cases, even of their extended family members or a whole clan for their most critical decisions.

Principles aren’t enough when human rights meet business

But when these relationships are translated into politics, individuals go through the same process, voting for kinship relations rather than associating themselves with the large unit of society, that is, the nation-state.

They do not vote for political manifestos but instead vote on what they get individually, as families or as communities, from the political candidates.

The system of non-party elections introduced during long periods of military dictatorships, especially for local governments, has had a long-lasting impact on Pakistani politics.

Political candidates could not mobilise people on party bases and, consequently, relied on their clans and castes to support local government elections.

As a result, local government elections led to politics based on clan and caste loyalties and a significantly segregated population along clan and caste lines. These loyalties ultimately strengthened the politics of patronage.

A new political elite emerged from these local councils and came to power through military patronage as well as the strength of their clan and caste.

After becoming members of national and provincial parliaments, these new politicians introduced politics based on their experience of local governance – that is, they introduced the politics of personalised patronage and then subsidised their clan-based constituencies by using development funds to boost their chances of re-election.

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Western societies have gone through several centuries of transformation, from kinship-based societies into nation-states. Many developing countries have yet to develop a sense of association with a larger nation-state beyond kinship loyalties.

This is truer for countries like Pakistan, where several decades of direct military rule has privileged non-party elections and there remains an ongoing military interference in politics.

In fact, the situation has significantly strengthened the kinship system of politics – at the detriment of establishing the state as a rational-bureaucratic entity accountable to people.

In a society where kinship ties have yet to be transformed, a state anchored by patron-client politics has prohibited a clear separation of the state and society – disempowering people to make the state accountable in overcoming corruption.

The military-controlled patron-client politics has also hindered state formation in the country, which still seems to be incomplete.

But again, language is important when it comes to Pakistan. Strictly speaking, there is no state in Pakistan; there’s only an administration, military and civil officials.

The term ‘state’ itself is an elusive one. It seems inappropriate to use the term regarding the institutions of the country. Although there is a ‘community’ with a monopoly over coercive ability, it has failed to devise institutions that confer legitimacy over the use of this force.

Arts & Culture

Rage against corruption

This is true even though there has always been an ongoing effort to build a state, initially by politicians and then by the military since 1958.

In short, unless state formation is insulated from the parochial interests of state institutions, especially the military bureaucrats and kinship-based electable candidates, controlling corruption won’t work.

Corruption in Pakistan is an effect of the incomplete process of state formation, which has failed to establish a sharp boundary between the state and society.

The only way to ensure a weeding out of corruption is to ensure the non-interference of non-political institutions in politics.

But this must be done alongside a sustained process of establishing and strengthening civilian-based democratic institutions and governance that is ultimately accountable to Pakistan’s people enabling them to move beyond their kinship loyalties.

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Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne

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U4 Helpdesk Answer

Pakistan: overview of corruption and anti-­corruption efforts.

Pakistan has regularly featured near the bottom of international indices for corruption. Despite relatively strong legislation, the country is currently lacking in key areas, in particular regarding whistleblower protection and freedom of information. There is also a large gap between the legislative framework and the implementation, with a poorly funded police force and an anti-­corruption agency struggling with a lack of competent staff.

The newly democratically elected government has pledged to make fighting corruption one of its priorities. Recent anti-­corruption efforts have included setting up new regional offices for the national anti-­corruption agency and proposing draft laws on whistleblowing in government departments.

However, political interference in public institutions prevents independent and effective investigations into corruption. There is little indication of a firm political will to address and challenge undue influence across the public sector.

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(2015) Pakistan: Overview of corruption and anti-­corruption efforts. U4 Expert Answer 2015:15

All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 )

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Essay Outline and Intro: Corruption in Pakistan

Corruption in Pakistan is on the decline, as Transparency International Berlin released its annual global report 2015 showing Pakistan further improving its ranking from the 50th most corrupt country in 2014 to 53rd in 2015. The political will of the government to fight corruption is lacking which has resulted in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo-moto action against mega corruption in NlCL, Pakistan Steel, Rental Power Plants. The CPI 2010 reveals that corruption in Pakistan is increasing, while in Bangladesh it is decreasing. Bangladesh was perceived to be the most corrupt country in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and its ranking in 2010 is the 39th most corrupt country. Reduced corruption has paid dividends to Bangladesh whose annual GDP growth last year was over 5%, while Pakistan’s GDP growth last year was near 2.4 %. Delay in formation of an Independent Accountability Commission by the parliament may further aggravate the situation.

The word “Corruption” has its origin in a Latin verb “corruptus” meaning “to break”. Literally, it means “a broken object”. In simple words, corruption means “the misuse of entrusted power for private benefit.” Conceptually, corruption is a form of behaviour which departs from ethics, morality, tradition, law and civic virtue. The term corruption has various definitions. 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 behaviour 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.”

Section 9 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 has defined corruption and corrupt practices in a comprehensive manner. It has enlisted about twelve different shades of corruption. Illegal gratifications, bribery, extortion, abuse of office, fraud, cheating and criminal breach of trust are some of the corrupt practices mentioned in the NAO 1999 (Annex A). Starting with the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947, there are about sixty pieces of enactments and rules that deal with offences of corruption and corrupt practices in Pakistan (Annex B). The most comprehensive definition of “corruption” can be found at the web site of the Global Infrastructure Anti Corruption Center (GIACC) http://www.giaccentre.org. It says “In its wider sense, corruption includes one or more of bribery, extortion, fraud, deception, collusion, cartels, abuse of power, embezzlement, trading in influence and money laundering.”

Essay Outline: Corruption in Pakistan

• Definition of corruption
• Essential components of corruption
• Lack of accountability
• Absence of rule of law
• Low salaries
• Lack of independence of judiciary
• Weak political institutions
• Political collusion with top management of a department
• Denial of basic facility of life
• Bad governance due to corruption
• Findings of National Anti-Corruption Strategy
• Examples of corruption
• Effects of corruption
• Increase salaries of the government employees
• Speedy judicial justice
• Role of NAB
• Police reforms
• Judiciary and legal profession
• Access to justice programme
• Accountability courts
• Public sector financial management
• Financial oversight bodies
• Independent Anti-Corruption Agencies
• Local government
• Freedom of Information and Media

About the author

Shahzad F. Malik

Shahzad Faisal Malik is the administrator of CSSTimes.pk and is responsible for managing the content, design, and overall direction of the blog. He has a strong background in Competitive Exams and is passionate and sharing information with others. Shahzad Faisal Malik has worked as a Graphic Designer/Content Creator at CSSTimes in the past. In his free time, Shahzad Faisal Malik enjoys watching Cricket, writing blogs for different websites and is always on the lookout for new and interesting content to share with the readers of this website. As the website administrator, Shahzad Faisal Malik is dedicated to providing high-quality content and fostering a welcoming and engaging community for readers. He looks forward to connecting with readers and hearing their thoughts and feedback on the website.

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Corruption as a Shared Dilemma: Survey Evidence from Legislators and Citizens in Three Countries

We conduct parallel surveys of legislators and citizens in three countries to study their tolerance for corruption. In Italy, Colombia, and Pakistan legislators and citizens respond similarly to hypothetical scenarios involving trade-offs between, for example, probity and efficiency: both perceive corruption as undesirable but prevalent. These novel descriptive data further reveal that legislators generally have accurate beliefs about public opinion on corruption and understand its relevance to voters. An informational treatment updates legislators’ beliefs about public opinion. The treatment produces downward adjustments among legislators who initially overestimated citizens’ anti-corruption preferences. We also present descriptive data that tolerance of corruption is predicted by politician attributes, most notably motivations for entering politics. Finally, results reconfirm partisan bias by voters in evaluations of corruption. Overall, results suggest that barriers to effective anti-corruption policies are unlikely to lie with lack of information by legislators or by their deliberate commitment to corrupt activities.

For feedback on an early version of our survey, we thank attendees at a session hosted by Evidence in Governance and Politics on January 26, 2022, including Jacob Bowers, Daniel Butler, Donald Green, Sarah Khan, Rachid Laajaj, Peter Loewen, Lucy Martin, Laura Paler, Daniel Posner, Juan Vargas, and Cesar Zucco. Preliminary and incomplete research results were presented at Humboldt University, the 2022 Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association, the 2023 Money in Politics Conference held at the Copenhagen Business School, the 2023 annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, and the Poverty, Violence, and Development Lab at the Center for the Study of Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. For research assistance, we thank Gabriel Bustos, Estefanía Cardoza Piñarete, Clara Epperlin, Ester Flumeri, Manoel Gehrke Ryff Moreira, Adi Jahic, Emil Kamalov, Mamoor Ali Khan, Milad Khattak, Viviane Linares, Juliana Marcela Maldonado Loaiza, Isabella Montini, Daniel Núñez Salazar, Francesco Paresce, Silvia Pianta, Ivetta Sergeeva, and Daniel Urquijo. For invaluable help as we worked, we thank Felipe Jaramillo Botero and Tommaso Nannicini. This RCT was registered in the American Economic Association Registry for randomized control trials under trial number AEARCTR-0008331. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Pakistan’s political crisis, briefly explained

An end to Pakistan’s constitutional crisis. But a political crisis endures.

by Jonathan Guyer

Editor’s note, April 10: Sunday, Imran Khan received a vote of no confidence from the Pakistani parliament, losing his position as prime minister. A vote on a new prime minister is expected as soon as Monday.

One of Pakistan’s twin crises was resolved this week. The other one, not so much.

On Thursday, the country’s supreme court delivered a historic ruling that resolved a constitutional crisis that took shape last week. The court rebuked Prime Minister Imran Khan, a self-fashioned populist leader and former cricket star who is more celebrity than statesman. Khan, the court ruled, had acted unconstitutionally when he dissolved Pakistan’s Parliament last week in order to avoid losing power through a no-confidence vote.

It was a surprising and reassuring decision, experts in the country’s politics said, given the supreme court’s checkered record as a sometime political ally of Khan. On Thursday, the court sided with the rule of law.

But the underlying political crisis that led to the court’s landmark order endures.

Khan outlandishly blamed the opposition parties’ efforts to oust him on a US-driven foreign conspiracy. Now, the Parliament has been restored and will continue with its no-confidence vote against Khan’s premiership Saturday, likely leading to his ouster and extraordinary elections later this year. Khan, for his part, said that he would “ fight ” back.

The broader political crisis, however, can be traced to the 2018 election that brought Khan to power. Traditionally, the military is the most significant institution in Pakistan, and it has often intervened to overthrow elected leaders that got in its way. Khan’s rise is inextricable from military influence over politics , and the incumbent prime minister accused the military of a soft coup for manipulating the election in Khan’s favor.

It was a “very controversial election,” says Asfandyar Mir, a researcher at the United States Institute of Peace. “There was a major question over the legitimacy of that electoral exercise and the government that Khan formed could just never escape the shadow of the controversy surrounding that election,” Mir explained.

More recently, the relationship between the military and Khan has worsened, and that gave the political opposition an opening to act against him. Though it’s not known what role the military played in the supreme court’s ruling, experts note that the harshness of the court’s order suggests the military’s buy-in. “This is part of a larger history of instability in Pakistan in which prime ministers are ousted from power, because they lose the support of Pakistan’s military,” Madiha Afzal, foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Vox.

But “even if the court was influenced by the military, it took the right decision,” she says.

Khan’s position weakened domestically

The political and economic situation set the stage for a challenge to Khan.

After running on a campaign that promised less corruption and more economic opportunity for the poor, Khan has failed to deliver. Inflation is climbing , unemployment is soaring , and a billion-dollar program from the International Monetary Fund has not helped stabilize matters. An international investigation into offshore money from last year, known as the Pandora Papers , showed that Khan’s inner circle had moved money abroad to avoid taxes, in contradiction with Khan’s populist rhetoric.

Khan presided over an anti-corruption witch hunt targeting opposition parties. Indeed, the opposition parties, many of them composed of dynastic leadership and families with old money, are corrupt , and their attempt to oust Khan can be seen as a move to evade further scrutiny, Mir said.

Still, that anti-corruption effort brought the government bureaucracy to a halt. And it’s part of Khan’s broader strongman-style approach to governing that has been ineffective .

Since his start in politics, Khan has depended on the courts. Yasser Kureshi, a researcher in constitutional law at the University of Oxford, says Khan has built his political standing on backing the judiciary. “Imran Khan’s political platform has been built around an anti-corruption populism, where he charges the political class for being corrupt, and in the last 15 years the supreme court has been on a spree of jurisprudence targeting the political corruption of Pakistan’s traditional parties,” he explains. “Khan has been the biggest supporter of this jurisprudence as it has validated and legitimized his politics.”

Now, the court appears to have turned against him at a time when the military has also lost faith in Khan. “With Imran Khan, I think that the problem for him is that right now, he has no institutional solutions that he can really turn to,” says Kureshi.

Khan’s relationship with the US has also cooled

Pakistan is a nuclear-armed country with a population of 220 million; it has built the sixth-largest military in the world, and has clout as a leader in the Islamic world. A longtime participant in the US war on terrorism, Pakistan has also been a conflicted partner, criticized for at times abetting the Taliban .

Khan was elected in 2018, and Mir says that, two years in, the military’s relationship to him began to cool. Khan feuded with the army chief over foreign policy issues, and the military saw Khan’s poor governance as a liability. Last year, Khan’s delays in signing off on a new intelligence chief prompted speculation of more divides between the two.

President Joe Biden did not phone Khan in his initial days in office, though he did call the leader of India , Pakistan’s chief rival. “The Biden administration’s cold shoulder to Imran Khan rubbed him the wrong way,” said Afzal. “Pakistan has just fallen off a little bit of the radar in terms of high-level engagement.”

Khan’s public messaging as a strongman has partially been responsible for agitating the relationship with the US — and by extension, his relationship with the Pakistani military, which wants to be closer to the US.

Most recently, that chill was expressed by Khan’s decision to stay neutral in Russia’s war on Ukraine; Khan visited Moscow just in advance of Russia’s invasion.

And, now, he’s turned to accusations of conspiracy: that the opposition’s stand against him is manufactured by the US. The origins of Khan’s incendiary claims appear to be a diplomatic cable that Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington sent home last month after a meeting with senior State Department official Donald Lu. Whatever criticisms Lu may have conveyed about Pakistan’s foreign policy, Khan’s interpretation of the memo has clearly been blown out of proportion. “When it comes to those allegations, there is no truth to them,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said last week.

It’s an open question whether his argument will resonate among a Pakistani populace who is suspicious of the United States. One group it’s likely not resonating with: Pakistan’s powerful military.

Khan is “critical of the United States to a point that makes the military uncomfortable,” said Shamila Chaudhary, an expert at the New America think tank. “The way he’s talking about the United States is preventing the US relationship with Pakistan from being repaired, and it needs to be repaired.”

Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s focus in Asia has been on great-power competition with China and two national security crises (the Afghanistan withdrawal and Russia’s Ukraine invasion). The sloppy withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan furthered the disconnect between Washington and Islamabad, according to Chaudhary, and further upset Pakistan’s government.

Robin Raphel, a former ambassador who served as a senior South Asia official in the State Department from 1993 to 1997, described Biden’s outlook to Pakistan as a “non-approach approach.”

“I’m a diplomat, and, I believe you get more with honey than vinegar,” she said. “It would have been more than worth it for the president to take five minutes to call Imran Khan.”

The US did send its top State Department official for human rights, Uzra Zeya, to the Organization of Islamic Countries summit in Pakistan last month. Zeya also met with the country’s foreign minister and senior officials, as the two countries celebrated the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

But there hasn’t been more than that in terms of a positive message for the US-Pakistan relationship in light of the recent political and constitutional crises in the country. Price’s recent comments on the situation were brief: “We support Pakistan’s constitutional process and the rule of law.”

What happens next

Once the Parliament completes its no-confidence vote, which may happen as soon as today, it will dissolve the government. The country’s electoral commission will then oversee a caretaker government that will likely be headed by the leader of the opposition, Shehbaz Sharif . (Sharif is the brother of Nawaz Sharif , a former prime minister himself, who is currently living in exile in the UK as he faces accusations of corruption.) And, in that forthcoming vote, Khan will most probably lose .

But even the specifics of those elections are contentious. Khan had asked the electoral commission to set a date within the next 90 days; opposition politicians told NPR that reforms are needed before the next vote, otherwise they say the military will “rig” the next elections.

Long-term, things are even less clear. Among civil society leaders in Pakistan, there is agreement that the supreme court’s ruling is good for constitutionalism. But it may also be a vehicle for further expansion of the judiciary’s ability to intervene in politics.

Kureshi, an expert on the courts of Pakistan and how they have increasingly become the arbiter of politics in the country, says the bigger takeaways won’t be fully understood until the court releases the full text of its ruling in the next month or so. That detailed order may set other legal precedents and even cast the opposition in a bad light.

After the immediate euphoria of keeping Khan’s audacious unconstitutional maneuver in check, that judgment may say a lot about how the court sees itself, especially its supervisory role over the parliament and prime minister.

“The elected institutions are deeply constrained by the tutelage of overly empowered unelected institutions, whether it is the military, historically, or the judiciary more recently,” said Kureshi. “Judgments like this give them an opportunity to further affirm and expand that role.”

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Essay On Corruption in Pakistan...

Published by admin on 28th September 2022

Essay On Corruption in Pakistan

Since independence corruption is one of the biggest obstacles faced by Pakistan. Despite various institutions handling corruption it’s not easy to control corruption. One form of corruption is bribery that prevails in our society strongly.  Many corruption control institutions is trying for years to stop corruption but still citizens of Pakistan are uncomfortable with the judiciary system.

Moreover, the dilemma is common and middle-class people are facing most of the problems. There was an anti-corruption strategy that was created in 2002 which purposed a comprehensive plan for controlling corruption. Also, the onal Accountability Bureau (NAB) has the power to prosecute cases and investigate. However, the unpredictability of anti-corruption and lack of political will is the major obstacle.

Pakistanis have to face many difficulties because of being a corrupted country. Even many people who are living outside Pakistan face criticism. The current government of Pakistan has taken several actions to overcome corruption and has reviewed the processes.

The Causes of Corruption

Countries are rank on the basis of their social, economical and safety grounds. The countries that are found safe and abide by the rules are perceived as the countries to live in. people look for the city of life, where they can get the desired outcome of what they put in. unfortunately corruption does not let this happen. It has been noticed that corruption makes the opportunities fade and invites to inequality. If we observe all these years Pakistan is facing unemployment, hunger, poverty, and discrimination just because of corruptions.

In addition, petty corruption has made life uneasy and disastrous. People are moving towards depression and hopelessness. Actually, making fraud is becoming common and spreading all over. Hence, corruption is routed in all levels either government or private. However, if we see the anti-corruption departments are trying their best to reduce the rate of corruption but still they are facing hardships.

 The Root Cause and Control

Corruption can only be controlled if both politically and individually each citizen not only understand their responsibility but also take charge. The reason is there is a p politician who is enlisted in the corruption list and it all continues from there.

In the end, all authorities of Pakistan should try on their behalf to minimize the corruption factor and operate legally. The citizens should focus on doing legal business and avoid making black money. If we will focus on small factors too than also we can control corruption at some level.

Essay On Corruption in Pakistan is the authority of https://essaywritingservice.pk/  . If you want your essays or article written kindly send us an email at [email protected] or contact us via Call/WhatsApp 03323616860.

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Islamabad, Aug 20 (PTI) An anti-corruption court in Pakistan Tuesday discharged Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, in 12 cases linked to the riots of May 9 last year, in a major relief to the former first couple.

Violence erupted in the country after Khan was arrested in Islamabad by the authorities to probe him in a case of corruption.

Anti-terrorism court Judge Malik Ejaz Asif presided over the hearing held at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, where the police had requested the physical remand of Bibi for further investigation.

During the detailed hearing, the court examined the police’s request for physical remand, which was aimed at probing Bibi’s alleged involvement in the 12 cases, including the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ).

However, after careful consideration, the court rejected the police’s plea and discharged Bibi from all related cases.

Her lawyer, Salman Safdar, told the media outside the Adiala Jail that she had been named in the cases based on various statements that had no legal standing.

“The court thoroughly reviewed the arguments from both sides before delivering its decision,” he said.

The lawyer also predicted that the decision to discharge her by the court today was likely to affect the cases of Khan who was also nominated in those cases along with hundreds of other workers of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Khan, 71, has been imprisoned at the Adiala Jail for more than a year now upon his conviction in multiple cases. His wife, 49-year-old Bushra, is also jailed along with him.

Khan faces over 200 cases and has been convicted in a few.

Though the former-cricketer-turned-politician had secured bail or his conviction was set aside, he has not been released. PTI SH ZH ZH

This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

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May 9 riots: Major victory for Bushra Bibi as Pakistan's anti-corruption court drops all charges

During the detailed hearing, the court examined the police’s request for physical remand, which was aimed at probing Bibi’s alleged involvement in the 12 cases, including the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) read more

An anti-corruption court in Pakistan Tuesday discharged Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, in 12 cases linked to the riots of May 9 last year, in a major relief to the former first couple.

Violence erupted in the country after Khan was arrested in Islamabad by the authorities to probe him in a case of corruption.

Anti-terrorism court Judge Malik Ejaz Asif presided over the hearing held at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, where the police had requested the physical remand of Bibi for further investigation.

During the detailed hearing, the court examined the police’s request for physical remand, which was aimed at probing Bibi’s alleged involvement in the 12 cases, including the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ).

However, after careful consideration, the court rejected the police’s plea and discharged Bibi from all related cases.

Her lawyer, Salman Safdar, told the media outside the Adiala Jail that she had been named in the cases based on various statements that had no legal standing.

“The court thoroughly reviewed the arguments from both sides before delivering its decision,” he said.

The lawyer also predicted that the decision to discharge her by the court today was likely to affect the cases of Khan who was also nominated in those cases along with hundreds of other workers of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Khan, 71, has been imprisoned at the Adiala Jail for more than a year now upon his conviction in multiple cases. His wife, 49-year-old Bushra, is also jailed along with him.

Khan faces over 200 cases and has been convicted in a few.

Though the former-cricketer-turned-politician had secured bail or his conviction was set aside, he has not been released.

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Alexander Vuving on the Political Legacies of Nguyen Phu Trong

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The late party chief “left behind a party-state that governs mostly by control and coercion rather than consensus and legitimacy.”

U.S. President Joe Biden and Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, attend a welcoming ceremony for Biden at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, September 10, 2023.

On July 19, Nguyen Phu Trong, the long-serving general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), died at the age of 80 . His passing appears to have marked the end of an era in Vietnam. During his 13 years at the apex of the Party, Trong arguably did more than any other figure to shape the tone and direction of Vietnamese politics: he purged corrupt officials, clamped down tightly on dissent, and adroitly positioned Vietnam in a turbulent and fast-changing world.

To assess Trong’s political and foreign policy legacy, and the country’s possible future trajectory under his successors, The Diplomat’s Southeast Asia Editor Sebastian Strangio spoke with Alexander Vuving , a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

What do you think will be Trong’s main domestic political legacies, and what impact did his policies have on Vietnamese society as a whole? Place him in the context of the CPV’s history; how did he conceive of the Party’s role, as a locus of political and/or moral leadership?

Nguyen Phu Trong was at the helm of the Vietnamese party-state for more than 13 years. During this long period of time, he focused his policy-making efforts on party-building, in which field he had a doctoral degree and the title of professor. This focus was due in part to his belief that the mission of the Communist Party is to lead the country and thus the Party must both stand on the moral high ground and possess the power needed to govern the country. Throughout his three terms, he fought a two-front battle against corruption and liberalism while trying to “confine power within the institutional cage,” as he said. He was most famous for his “blazing furnace,” a metaphor he created to refer to his anti-corruption campaign, which targeted not only graft and cronyism but also liberal thoughts. He said more than once that “political decadence,” by which he meant primarily liberalism, was more dangerous than economic corruption.

Highly risk-averse, he held back political and economic reform. He also relied on the authorities rather than the populace to fight corruption. A key principle of his anti-corruption campaign was, to use his own analogy, “striking the rats (the corrupt officials) without breaking the vase (the Party and the regime).” His building of the “institutional cage” followed a centralized approach to governance. His “blazing furnace” positioned the security and police apparatus as the gatekeeper and executor of the campaign. The centralization of policy-making, the reliance on the security and police forces, and the purge of liberal thoughts have enormously changed Vietnam’s political system. As a result, Trong left behind a party-state that governs mostly by control and coercion rather than consensus and legitimacy. Just a decade ago, the CPV was more dynamic and less centralized than it is today. By the same token, the largest impact of Trong’s policies on society at large was the shrinking of space for civil society.

As things stand, who do you think stands the best chance of inheriting Trong’s mantle as party chief at the next National Congress in early 2026?

As things stand today, General Secretary To Lam has the largest chance to be elected – or re-elected in his case – Party chief in early 2026. If nothing happens to him, he will preside over the preparations for the next CPV Congress, including the selection of Party chief. He will pass the age limit (65 years) for the re-elected Politburo members including the Party chief. But the rule has been substantially weakened in the past, as it was waived for more than one leader, including Party chief Trong, at the last two CPV Congresses, in 2016 and 2021. Another waiver of the rule to keep Lam as Party chief is quite possible. And Lam has something that none of his predecessors did. Unlike any previous Party chief, he was a former security and police chief and enjoys strong backup by the security and police apparatus, which has been extremely privileged and become extremely powerful as a result of the anti-corruption campaign.

Can you elaborate on what motivated Trong’s anti-corruption campaign? How successful was it, and how do you think it will fare under new leadership?

Trong launched the anti-corruption campaign in late 2011, less than a year after being elected CPV chief. The central motive of his campaign was to rescue the Party from decay. As he repeatedly said, “corruption is threatening the survival of the Party.” The campaign was very successful on the surface: thousands of Party and government officials, including many high-ranking leaders, were sacked in its name. But a deeper look tells a different story. The campaign completely avoided tackling the root cause of corruption in the system while being largely utilized as a weapon in the inner-party “game of thrones.” As it proved to be an excellent tool for power competition, it will continue to be taken advantage of by people in power going forward.

In the wake of Trong’s death, we have seen a lot of praise for his notion of “bamboo diplomacy” and his ability to balance deftly between the major powers. That said, omnidirectional balancing has been a hallmark of Vietnam’s foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Aside from coining the phrase, how much credit does Trong deserve for this, and do you foresee any changes to Vietnam’s foreign policy orientation in the years to come?

Trong didn’t coin the term “bamboo diplomacy” – the Thais did. In the 1980s, some of Vietnam’s foreign policy elites argued that unlike their country, which suffered long periods of war, Thailand was able to avoid war and get on a development path because it pursued “bamboo diplomacy.” The term referred to a foreign policy approach that is flexible regarding the ideological and strategic alignment with the major powers. The debate continued into the 1990s, but the prevailing argument was that “bamboo diplomacy” was unsuited for Vietnam’s principled foreign policy.

However, Vietnam’s foreign policy underwent a turning point in 2003 when the Communist Party adopted a new national security strategy that removed ideology as the key criterion for determining friends and foes in Vietnam’s foreign relations. This paved the way for a more flexible, less ideological version of the omnidirectional foreign policy that Vietnam had pursued since the end of the Cold War. Two major reviews of this national security strategy in 2013 and 2023, both under Trong’s leadership, reaffirmed its key tenets .

Although Trong didn’t coin the term “bamboo diplomacy, he popularized it as a distinctive feature of Vietnam’s strategic behavior. He gave a metaphor that helped to capture the essence of Vietnam’s omnidirectional foreign policy. He articulated this essence in a way that was easy to understand. He also practiced it at a highly sophisticated level. During his 13 years in power, Vietnam became the “comprehensive strategic partner” of all major powers in the Indo-Pacific region, from Russia and India to South Korea, the United States, Japan, and Australia (Vietnam and China became each other’s first comprehensive strategic partner in 2008). This was a great feat in an increasingly divided region.

However, Trong did not fully appreciate the epochal changes that are transforming the world and the region. For him, the major world trends today remain the same as those identified in CPV Politburo Resolution 13 of 1988, which anticipated the post-Cold War era.

Nevertheless, subtle changes in Vietnam’s foreign policy are underway. On the one hand, the post-Cold War era is behind us and we are now in the early stage of a new era of heightened great power rivalry and shaken international order. Events in this strategic environment will sooner or later cause a turning point in Vietnam’s foreign policy by directly and fundamentally affecting Vietnam’s quest for security, resources, and identity. On the other, Vietnam’s new leader, To Lam, views the world differently than his predecessor. In an article published the day after he was elected CPV general secretary, he wrote: “Developments in the recent years show that the world is in transition to a new era. The time from now until 2030 will be the most important period to determine the new world order.”

After Trong’s death on July 19, it was reported that many Vietnamese social media users had uploaded black and white versions of their profile pictures in a sign of respect for the CPV leader, and his reportedly incorruptible character. What do you think this says about how Trong was viewed within Vietnamese society? Can we use this to infer anything about popular perceptions of the Party and its rule?

People did this for various reasons. Some genuinely admired him, others did this under peer or social pressure, and still others didn’t want to be blacklisted by the authorities. That said, Trong embodied the ideal official as defined by the traditional Vietnamese culture: an incorruptible mandarin. This image of him contrasted with the reality of the Communist Party as revealed by his anti-corruption campaign. Trong was like the exception that proved the rule. So, for many Vietnamese social media users, this action expressed their high respect for the unbribable leader. But for many others, it was also a subtle form of resistance and protest against the corrupt power, as James C. Scott has eloquently discussed in his works on the Southeast Asian peasants.

What impact do you think a possible second Trump term could have on Vietnam?

It would be highly speculative to talk about what a second Trump administration would do partly because most of the polls are forecasting a Harris win and partly because Trump is very unpredictable. That said, there are several ways in which Trump’s America might affect Vietnam directly or indirectly. First, Trump is likely to pressure Vietnam to reduce its trade surplus with the United States. As this is extremely hard for Vietnam to do since the surplus is structural, Hanoi will probably have to find a way to compensate for this bad optic.

Second, a United States under Trump may put more pressure on Vietnam to take its side in its rivalry with China. A second Trump administration may be more confrontational than the Biden administration against China, causing Beijing to be more assertive in the South China Sea and the Mekong Subregion. Trump may also threaten to reduce U.S. commitment to Asia, creating a sort of power vacuum where China will step in. Trump is likely to turn his back on the international institutions and rules, thus further weakening the international order. Any of these possibilities will place Vietnam before a big dilemma that necessitates a rethink of Vietnam’s grand strategy.

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