essay on corruption in pakistan

Essay on Corruption in Pakistan Its Causes

Corruption is a poison which squanders the government resources deters investment and is detrimental to economic growth and political development. It flourishes if people in authority are dishonest and corrupt the state institutes are weak, and there is a political instability financial control lack of transparency in governance and disregard of the rule of law. Essay on Corruption in Pakistan Its Causes. Corruption has spoiled Pakistan completely and is resulting in increase in poverty, unemployment, hunger and is tarnished the image of the country by bringing immense miseries to its people.

Corruption has been deep routed in all levels either private or government from top to bottom and anti-corruption institutions have unfavorably failed to address this or even reduce the ongoing dishonesty and frauds. Corruption in Pakistan is widespread particularly in the government and lower levels of police forces. Transparency International 2017 Corruption perception index ranks the country 117 th place out of 180 countries. Essay on Corruption in Pakistan Its Causes. Pakistan saw a significant improvement in its statistics in 2013 when its ranking improved by 12 indices compared to its previous rankings.

Corruption is not something new. There have been periods in the subcontinent when corruption was rampant such as under British East India Company. When there was almost anarchy in the northeast of the subcontinent. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his inaugural address to the constituent assembly on 11 th August 1947 had warned that bribery and corruption is a poison and “we must put that down with an iron hand”

The corruption practices have increased to an intolerable proportion and have assumed the gravity of a cancer. Dr IIhan Niazi write in his book, “The culture of power and governance of Pakistan 1947-2008 has dealt with the corruption. As early 1950 the Lahore High Court found the Chief Minister of Punjab guilty of corruption abuse of power and obstruction of justice because he had illegally acquired evacuee land for himself. After the demise of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan (1947-51) a period of weak governments followed. As many as six prime ministers were changed during the next seven years.

Essay on Corruption in Pakistan Its Causes and Solution

Causes of Corruption:

Political Instability:

Corruption prevails in those regions where there is no peace no write of the state and there is no stable government. Pakistan unfortunately has been a place of political intrigues politics of opportunism and obstructionism.

Discretionary Power of Public Officials:

According to Roseau, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” wide and discretionary powers to the public officials provide incentive for corrupt behavior. These make them less accountable. Judges, Bureaucrats and politicians have access to control the valuable benefits of private citizens. They can impose costs over them and their business.

Policy Environment:

Corruption also stems from policy environment either on the top or at the bottom of the hierarchy. The payoffs are frequent to the lower level officials charged with collecting tariffs, provide police protection, issuing permits and the like.

Low Salaries:

Civil and military officials are also likely to involve in corruption due to their low salaries. As their costs and expenses are exceeding form their remunerations.

Poverty is also one of the main causes of corruption. The economic conditions of our country have always been shabby. Inflation as ever is on the rise. There is a lack of social safety network. All these compel a man to indulge in such unlawful activities.

IMPACTS OF CORRUPTION

According to Kimberly Ann Elliot:- “Bribery often undermines political legitimacy, squanders government revenues, and distorts international trade and investment flows. Where it is pervasive, corruption can deter investment, thereby lowering growth,” and is “detrimental to economic and political development.” Some of the main impacts of corruption are as follows:-

Moral Degradation:-

Corruption tends to moral degradation. The culture of corruption has plagued the society to the extent that it has become a way of life. Values and norms have changed and new values orientation is undergone. It puts us on the threshold of the cross roads of values. The generation, in all walks of life, emanates from assumption of power and corruption of values. Corruption leads to corruption. Corruption of liberty leads to liberty of corruption. It initiates every type of fraud, jealousy, deception, negligence and exploitation of vulnerable and weakest segments of society. It breeds inequality and injustice in the society. It denies the basic human rights of freedom, equality and fair play.

Slow Economic Growth:-

Corruption leads to slow economic growth, coupled deceleration with the development in the state. It impacts the private sector as there is no transparency. In consequences, investment is discouraged, whether it is internal or foreign. It impacts the public sector, as there is scarcity of resources. Thus, it creates despair, insecurity and detracts people’s constructive objective.

Mistrust and Suspicion:-

When there is corruption, there is mistrust and suspicion. People lose faith in the integrity of Public Administration as it becomes inefficient due to the violation of merit. Furthermore, they lose their faith in the state and its representatives. Thus, these facts cause damage to the social fabrics of the society. In consequence, democracy is put at stake and the nation become vulnerable to be exploited by the anti-Pakistani elements. Resultantly, the writ of the state will be shaken.

Corruption Leads To Exploitation:-

Corruption leads to exploitation because the living standard of people becomes very low. As corruption retards economy and poverty alleviation and public service delivery. Thus, it leads to all sorts of crimes and violence. Rich and poor gap get widen. Poor is exploited by burgesses (big businessman) class for their own aims.

Brain Drainage:-

Brain drainage is the direct effect of corruption. It will become harder to locate men and women’s ability and integrity in the public life. Capable people prefer to go abroad and serve other nations with their ability instead of suffering in Pakistan.

Current Government Era:-

It has been reported that during the last four years (2008-11) there were corruption and liabilities to the tune of Rupees 8500 billion. The estimated corruption was Rupees 390 billion in 2008, Rs 450 billion in 2009, Rs 825 billion in 2010 and Rs 1100 billion in 2011.it is due to prevalent corruption that the country’s economy has deteriorated to an extent that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rated Pakistan as “highly vulnerable”, and besides mounting external debts, “for the first time in the country’s history, the domestic debts and liabilities across Rupees 7 trillion mark.”

Increment in Social Problems:

The general public suffers because it is difficult for the people, who do not enjoy political patronage or contact with higher authorities, to get their genuine work done. Those who can bribe or have political support and contacts with higher authorities are the main beneficiaries of the prevailing system of governance. As for the judiciary and legal professions, except for superior courts, “there is widespread lack of public confidence in the justice system. Access to justice and legal the rule of law are undermined by corruption.” It can, therefore, be assumed that the bureaucracy as well as the judiciary is not above board and needs to improve their standards.

Honest Leadership:

Miss Fatima Jinnah had once said that corruption is like a snow which melts from the top. “Corruption cannot exist without the connivance of political leadership, even if passive,” says Elliot. Thus the foremost need is the top executive authority should be men of integrity who should not be corrupt and should not permit others to indulge in corruption.

Meritocracy:-

As for the government officials and functionaries, meritocracy must be implemented. The professional standards for the cadre law enforcement agencies should be improved, their induction made scrutiny on merit, they are reasonably well paid, there are improvements in the conduct of their training, they have service security and are free from political interference. The judiciary both at higher and lower levels should be strong, independent, honest and corruption-free. Greater transparency and effective accountability should be ensured, so there is easy accessibility of poor people to police stations, judicial courts and other public service departments.

Rule of Law:-

There should be a rule of law so that “thieves” are caught. The people should have fear of law and severe punishment to be given to those found guilty of corruption.

Proportional Representation:-

There is a tendency that candidates for legislative assemblies spend a large amount in their election campaign and in bribing the voters with a hope that they would be able to earn more. If elected, they resort to corrupt practices to amass wealth to compensate for the amount spent as well as for expenses to be spent in the next elections. If the alternative system of proportional representation, as practiced in Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Sri Lanka etc., Is introduced it will be a check on individual corruption. And only those persons, who have an impeccable record of honesty, should be eligible for election to legislatures.

Financial Control:-

For financial oversight, the Public Accounts Committee and the Ministry of Finance with its Auditor General’s Office should work with efficiency and honesty. They need to continue reforming and overhauling themselves for improvement. Their working should be computerized so as to adopt best international procedures and practices, for audit and scrutiny. In addition, with a view to improving government revenues, they should ensure that the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) makes every eligible taxpayer to pay taxes to the government honestly.

Local Government:-

The local government system introduced in 2002 should be re-introduced and reformed wherever necessary. The system implies handling over local governance to the people through decentralization of administrative authority, de-concentration of management functions, and distribution of resources and public-private partnership in implementing and execution of works. This decentralization will eliminate corruption at provincial and higher levels, because local works would be carried out locally.

Civil Society:-

The civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be associated with government agencies and committees, in advisory and oversight roles. The civil society may act as “watchdogs” in fighting against corruption. The public private partnership should be ensured, especially at district, tehsil and village level. Only those citizens should be co-opted who can take part in the direct monitoring of the Police, the Judiciary, the district government officials and others. Complaint cells be established which should be controlled by a committee composed of senior district officers and responsible citizens. In addition, there should be freedom of information in offices especially those having control over public works.

Education and Media:-

As a long term measure, intensive efforts need to be made to raise the Pakistan’s literacy rate, which is only 56 percent at present. There should be increased emphasis on character building and inculcating qualities such as honesty, justice, love of humanity, modesty, dignity, fair play etc, in our educational institutions. Besides, it should be the theme, which electronic and print media should focus on.

National Accountability Bureau:-

In the past many attempts were made to uproot corruption but all in vain. Critics opine that in the past, people were targeted and not facets of corruption. NAB was established to substantiate the commandment of Allah but it became a kingro court. The anti- corruption Act is still on the Statue Book (constitution), the Public Representative Office Disqualification Act is still in vogue. General Ayub, Zia, Musharraf introduced their own anti- corruption programs but they all aimed at throwing out the politicians and not the corruption.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at the federal, provincial and local levels should effectively resort to monitoring through public awareness and in cooperation and collaboration with civil society. NAB should be independent of the executive. The setting up Public Safety Commission (PSC) in each district will be helpful. It would ensure greater private-public partnership and participation. It will be of assistance in the investigation of grievances. The anti-corruption process will be effective if the functionaries of NAB are paid well and have security of tenure. The Nab should have adequate staff and the requisite capability and capacity to perform its functions effectively “for improving governance, management, transparency and accountability and quality of public procurement of goods, services and works in the public sector.”

Anti Corruption Ombudsmen:-

Perhaps, Pakistan also needs to have an office of an anti-corruption ombudsman as proposed by Anna Hazare in India to deal with complaints against the conduct of other government officials and agencies dealing with the public. There may be anti-corruption ombudsmen at federal, provincial and local levels for prompt and speedy disposal of corruption cases involving abuse of power, illegal gratification, and misappropriation of property, kickbacks and commissions. However, accountability must not be selective and it should be across the board. The anti-corruption ombudsman should not only be independent but have vast powers. He should work without discrimination and the privileged people should not be treated differently. It would be the implementation of anti-corruption measures which would rather, as the taste of the pudding lies in its eating.

Transparency:-

Transparency, honesty and fair play are the pre-requisite for any state to progress. In order to make Pakistan a corruption free state, it is inevitable to introduce a transparency and merit culture in all its departments. No room should be provided for favouritism, gifts culture and bribery.

Increasing the Salaries of Public Servants:-

Corruption is a socio-economic problem. In the past, it has been treated only as a legal and administrative issue. Good rumination to the public servants and merit- oriented bureaucracy should be the norm in the country. There should be social justice and equity among all citizens of the country. The pay structure of the public officials must be realistic. Their salaries should be adequate to meet their needs.

Mass awareness:-

To minimize corruption in Pakistan, there is a need of comprehensive campaign on the media to bring awareness to the people. The propagation against corruption could play a vital role in uprooting corruption in Pakistan. Civil society can also play a vital role in minimizing corruption in our society.

Empowering Parliamentary Oversight Committee:-

Democratic government is still the best policy even if its leaders are less austere and less capable than non-political guards or experts. A democratic system has its own correcting mechanism. Parliament oversight and fear of losing the confidence of people makes it more efficient. A parliament oversight committee should be empowered to revive all the actions of the government, big cartels and bureaucrats. Only then the corruption could be minimized in the country.

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

The European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS): Committed to providing excellent, genuine & authentic research and advice on South Asia.

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Corruption in Pakistan Essay in English With Outline

Corruption in Pakistan plays a role in termites in the country. It slowly and gradually consumes all the strengths and power of the country, leaving it with hollowness. In Pakistan corruption is more like a national game. It is present at every level of profession, whether it’s the noblest profession i.e. teaching and Medical any other profession in the world. In the government education sector, teachers are corrupt. They get a salary for teaching in schools or colleges but they do not play their role as a good teacher in college which enforces students to get tuition from the same teachers privately.

Essay Outline On Corruption In Pakistan

Corruption Definition
Different Elements of Corruption
Causes of Corruption
Accountability in our Country
No Rules and Laws
Salaries are Low
Our Judiciary System
Basic Facility of Life in Pakistan
Need to Find Some New Anti-Corruption Strategy
Effects of Corruption on Country
Role of NAB
Steps to Take for Corruption

If we talk about the medical profession, corruption is there. A survey was conducted which reported that 42% of individuals responded that gaining access to hospital services was by a method other than the standard procedure of admission. Country Politics is becoming the domestic game for the people. They are playing politics and corrupting every field of life.

Let’s put light on the other sector of government. According to research, corruption is very much evident in the lower levels of the police in Pakistan. We can imagine if our protection provider people are corrupt this country can be safe. In fact, many citizens consider the police to be the most corrupt sector of the Pakistani government.

Corruption in Pakistan Essay in English With Outline

The threat of corruption in Pakistan is neither the government nor party-centric but it is the system and framework driven. As per figures performed by Transparency International, Pakistan has lost an unbelievably heightened amount just because of corruption, bad government, and tax evasion which was more than Rs. 8.5 trillion (US $94 billion), because of corruption, bad government, and tax dodging. According to an advisory of Transparency International, Pakistan does not require a single rupee as foreign aid if it starts correcting its internet governance and systems. This proves that Pakistan is a pretty rich country but only because of corruption and dishonesty does it lack in development and growth.

We as citizens, if united, can get rid of all the corruption in our country and can contribute to making this country beautiful and worth living.

Corruption Free Pakistan Dream Or Reality

As we all know the fight on top of corruption has been taking the shape of global dimensions. It is all stepping across in order to realize the grave socio-economic threats being posed by the side of corruption. In all the spheres of the human regions, Pakistan has been much affected by Corruption. It has been on the whole coming out to be known as one of the Pakistan nation’s most formidable challenges and threats for the future generation too.

If we talk about the recent case of corruption. So the opposition leader was arrested by the hand of NAB and millions of rupees were recovered from them. So NAB is the only department who trying to control corruption and recover money from corrupt people. According to a recent report of Transparency, our country has almost control over corruption but in some departments, many people are still doing the corruption. We can say our country is going out from corruption and as soon we will enroll in those countries that are corruption-free.

The campaign in opposition to corruption is one such kind of criterion that we have been witnessing with the direct and important staking. Corruption has been on the whole retard with the pace of development and hence impedes development-based activities.

The government of Pakistan is not paying much attention on top of the removal of corruption and hence no brighter future is being figured out. It is leading to the way of a serious reduction in the timeline of the development programs and hence resulting in the increase in the maintenance of public assets. Over the aspect of the stability of societies, corruption has come about to emerge as one of the major potential threats. This has definitely caused breaches in the social order of the world. It is simply damaging and appears to be the biggest threat to the long-established values which has evolved over the long centuries of the civilized struggle. Now here we end today’s topic which is “Essay on Corruption Free Pakistan Dream Or Reality “.

Say No To Corruption

Corruption is one such word that you might have to listen to every single day from the world of politics. Not just the politics but sometimes this action does take place in our surroundings as well. But still, we would never get to learn the idea of why we stay silent on it, and finally, we do end up facing its repercussions. We would be aware or might not be aware of the fact that this is damaging the roots of our society slowly but on the hardest scale. Old generations do the corruption but the coming generations have to suffer from its destruction. Now the main question that does hit so many minds is where the corruption starts! It does take place from the upper level and then slowly and silently it does hit lower-level people as well.

How Corruption Takes Place in Pakistan?

Pakistan is no doubt in the stage of its development and the maximum percentage of the population in Pakistan is on the line of poverty. People want equal rights but none of us bother to listen to their problems and finally, they took hold of the wrong path of corruption. They do put them in the actions or activities of bribery as they do get any chance. A maximum percentage of the Pakistan population is involved in most of the wrongdoings. The largest sum of corruption takes place in Government sectors in the middle of the high officers and clerks.

Raising Slogan of “Say No To Corruption” in Pakistan:

In the past few months, the raising slogan “Say No To Corruption” has started off which is somehow raising a little sum awareness among the new generation. But on the same side, some people are making fun of it which is a quite thought-provoking moment. Corruption will never end up with its roots in raising slogans or sending messages on mobile phones. It is one such root that should be cut down through mutual discussion and plans.

How To Reduce Corruption Level in Pakistan?

In terms of reducing the level of corruption in Pakistan, it is important that the people of Pakistan should collectively think about resolving the issues so that both poor strikes and rich people would get equal rights in their custody. If you do watch any person involved in corruption then you should stand up and reveal their basic needs. Manpower is one of the basic factors that can slow down the level of corruption to much extent. It would stop the chances of ruining the coming generations.

Effects of Corruption in Pakistan

Definitely when people doing corruption then your economy is badly affected. Right now in Pakistan, corruption exists in every government department as well as all departments are affected badly even if they cannot fulfill their expenditure. They burden the provincial and federal government and then the government increases the tax ratio on the public. Then inflation will increase.

Types of Corruption in Pakistan

Supply Versus Demand Corruption
Grand Versus Petty Corruption
Conventional Versus Unconventional Corruption
Public Versus Private Corruption

LET’S UNITE AGAINST ANTI-CORRUPTION

This is all about the Corruption in Pakistan Essay in English With an Outline from our side thanks for reading.

Moin akhtar

I am committed to helping Pakistani students craft successful career paths by merging their individual passions with market trends. As a career counselor, we'll explore both well-established fields and modern industries to find the best fit for you. With personalized counseling and strategic planning, we aim to transform your educational journey into a thriving professional future.

Its really outstanding article in simple wording but brilliant if we save pakistan it is our brilliant effort and we must have to fight against……..

i was suffering from very crusial circumastances for the knowledge of this topic that from where i collect information about corruption but i saw this essay it is very beneficial for me. Thanku for uploading this.

true lines of a muslims heart.nice sir thanks…..,

no bad ;satisfactory

Its realy outstanding essay… 🙂

its realy outstanding essay….

thanks for this good effort for student it is for pakistan not anyone

there has been given excelent efforts to unveil the facts…

its realy outstanding article..brilliant effort every thing has been explained in simple wording….if we want to save Pakistan we must have to fight against curruption…

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Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Unraveling Corruption in Pakistan: Challenges and Solutions

February 3, 2024

Corruption has long been a pervasive issue in Pakistan, permeating various sectors of society and hindering progress and development. From government institutions to private enterprises, its detrimental effects have undermined trust, impeded economic growth, and perpetuated inequality. Understanding the root causes, acknowledging the current state, and exploring potential solutions are crucial steps towards combatting this deep-seated problem. Understanding the Causes: Corruption in Pakistan is fueled by a multitude of factors, including political instability, weak institutions, inadequate transparency and accountability mechanisms, and socio-economic disparities. The intertwining of power and privilege often leads to the abuse of authority for personal gain. Moreover, cultural norms and historical legacies have contributed to a tolerance for corruption, making it entrenched within the fabric of society. The Current Landscape: Despite efforts to curb corruption, Pakistan continues to face significant challenges in this regard. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index consistently ranks Pakistan among the most corrupt countries globally. Rampant bribery, nepotism, embezzlement, and favoritism are prevalent across various sectors, eroding public trust and confidence in governance structures. Impact on Society: The consequences of corruption are far-reaching, exacerbating poverty, hindering investment, distorting market mechanisms, and impeding access to essential services such as healthcare and education. Corruption disproportionately affects marginalized communities, perpetuating socio-economic disparities and undermining efforts towards inclusive growth and development. Solutions and Reform Initiatives: Addressing corruption in Pakistan requires a multifaceted approach, encompassing legal reforms, institutional strengthening, enhanced transparency, and civic engagement. Some key strategies include: 1. Legal Reforms: Enforcing existing anti-corruption laws and implementing stricter penalties for offenders are essential steps towards deterring corrupt practices. Additionally, comprehensive legislation should be enacted to close loopholes and strengthen accountability mechanisms. 2. Institutional Strengthening: Building robust and independent institutions, including anti-corruption agencies, judicial bodies, and oversight mechanisms, is crucial for ensuring accountability and promoting good governance. Capacity-building initiatives and professional development programs can enhance the effectiveness of these institutions. 3. Transparency and Accountability: Emphasizing transparency in public procurement processes, financial transactions, and decision-making is vital for preventing corruption. Implementing open data initiatives and whistleblower protection mechanisms can empower citizens to hold authorities accountable and expose corrupt practices. 4. Public Awareness and Civic Engagement: Educating the public about the detrimental effects of corruption and fostering a culture of integrity and ethical conduct are essential for creating a more accountable society. Civil society organizations, media outlets, and grassroots movements play a crucial role in mobilizing citizens and advocating for anti-corruption reforms. 5. International Cooperation: Collaborating with international partners, organizations, and stakeholders can provide valuable resources, expertise, and support for anti-corruption initiatives. Participating in global anti-corruption conventions and initiatives demonstrates Pakistan's commitment to combating corruption on a global scale. Conclusion: Corruption remains a significant challenge in Pakistan, undermining democratic institutions, stifling economic growth, and perpetuating social injustice. Addressing this complex issue requires sustained efforts, political will, and collective action from government authorities, civil society, and the private sector. By implementing comprehensive reforms, strengthening institutions, and promoting transparency and accountability, Pakistan can overcome the scourge of corruption and pave the way for a more prosperous and equitable future.

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Essay on Corruption in Pakistan

2022, 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 National 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.

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Article Contents

Introduction, methodology, conceptualizing corruption, discussion and conclusions.

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A Study of Economic, Cultural, and Political Causes of Police Corruption in Pakistan

Article contents
Figures & tables
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Nadeem Malik, Tariq Abbas Qureshi, A Study of Economic, Cultural, and Political Causes of Police Corruption in Pakistan, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice , Volume 15, Issue 2, June 2021, Pages 1446–1462, https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paaa016

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There is a dearth of studies on police corruption that have analysed the correlation of economic, cultural, and political causes of police corruption in Pakistan; therefore, the existing studies fail to provide such a holistic picture of the phenomenon. This article aims to fill the gap. It is claimed that police corruption in Pakistan is a politicized, institutionalized, and a legitimized phenomenon. The police force entrenched in a kinship-based patron–client social and political culture benefits the political elite to use the police force for controlling the electorate and political opponents. The policy reforms for curbing police corruption have failed and cannot be successful without a strong political will of the political elite. This is a qualitative study using a purposive sampling method. The article will be a useful reference for readers, including police officials who are interested in understanding why corruption could not be effectively prevented and may have some broader relevance to other South Asian countries.

Corruption is a global phenomenon. However, in Pakistan, it is endemic and remains a systemic problem entrenched at all levels of society and government ( Dogar, 2017 ). According to the most recent estimates available, there was Rs 852 billion (the US$ 8,192,307,692) worth of corruption in public sector enterprises only in 2016 ( Sajid, 2016 ). The Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) identifies Pakistan as 117th out of 180 most corrupt countries ( TI, 2019 ). While CPI alerts policymakers about corruption, it is ‘not a sufficient indicator of the level of corruption in developing countries because the perception of corruption does not always reflect the reality or complexity of the actual level of corruption within a country’ ( Madichie, 2005 , p. 320). Such observation is relevant to Pakistan, where corruption has become a way of life in society, and the evaluation of perceptions of corruption fails to explain a holistic picture. Of all government departments, corruption within the police is of utmost concern because Pakistan represents a case where religious intolerance, sectarian, ethnic, and gender-based violence, as well as growing poverty, inequality, and crime, have led to significant deterioration of the rule of law. Deteriorating law and order also have grave consequences for economic growth and attracting foreign investment in the country ( Raza et al ., 2015 ). The police are incapable of dealing with such challenges because of corrupt practices ( TI, 2013 ). It is, therefore, imperative to understand the holistic nature of police corruption and its causes in Pakistan.

Despite the gravity of the issue, there is a dearth of studies on police corruption in Pakistan. One of the reasons is that the discipline of Criminology is rarely studied in the country. Out of 133 universities, only 3 offer Criminology to their students ( Fasihuddin, 2013 ). Except Jackson et al. (2014) , few studies on police have mainly concentrated on other aspects of police organization such as administrative reforms for police efficiency, lack of training, inadequate salaries, lack of accountability, lack of robust requirement, and lack of police legitimacy (see Chattha and Ivkovic, 2004 ; Abbas, 2011 ; Ahmed and Ahmed, 2012 ). These studies have recommended an increase in salaries, improvement in training and curriculum, increasing public awareness, changing organizational culture, provision of modern technology for investigation, reform of the criminal justice system for police accountability.

Jackson et al. (2014) , however, focused on examining the empirical links between people’s perceptions of police corruption and their perceptions of the fairness and effectiveness, and their beliefs about the legitimacy of the police. Their findings suggest that in Pakistan’s context where ‘minimal effectiveness and integrity is yet to be established, police legitimacy may rest not just on the procedural fairness of officers, but also on their demonstrated ability to control crime and avoid corruption’ ( Jackson et al. , 2014 , p. 2). The main emphasis of their research is, nevertheless, on police legitimacy and not adequately studying the causes of police corruption.

This article will bridge the gap by focusing on multiple causes of police corruption.

The issue of police corruption in Pakistan is complex, and its several permutations and characteristics cannot be addressed adequately in a single article. It is, therefore, beyond the scope of this article to analyse police reforms, systems of police management and accountability or attempts made to curb police corruption. The article instead focuses on examining the economic, cultural, and political causes of police corruption in Pakistan that have emerged from our field research. It is demonstrated that police corruption in Pakistan is a politicized, institutionalized, and a legitimized phenomenon. Since the independence of Pakistan in 1947, there have been 21 reports on recommendations for police reform that were rarely implemented and the Police Act of 1861, which was introduced by the British colonial powers to quell political uprisings or opposition remained operative ( Babakhel, 2018; , Sadiq, 2014) . It, therefore, becomes imperative to analyse multiple causes of police corruption in Pakistan, which may have some broader relevance to other developing countries in South Asia.

As will be demonstrated, with some variations, Singh’s (2019 , p. 24), six-fold typology on police corruption in Afghanistan seems relevant to Pakistan:

Patronage and loyalty (recruitment is based on connections and a patrimonial bureaucracy);

Unprofessionalism (not performing duties correctly and treason) and lack of motivation (no noble cause or sense of mission);

Bribery and extortion (the alleged cause is low pay to supplement income which is culturally accepted, but this is also due to the lack of police oversight and high solidarity);

Violence and protection rackets (demanding payments for vendors to continue selling produce or operating businesses);

Direct involvement and protection of drug-related activities (involves kickbacks paid to senior officers to continue working in high drug-producing areas); and

Payment for posts (internal payoffs to secure positions).

This article proceeds as follows. The next section is on methodology. ‘Conceptualising corruption’ section conceptualizes police corruption. ‘Findings’ section presents research findings, and ‘Discussion and conclusions’ section is on overall discussion and conclusions.

The study is qualitative. The fieldwork for this study was conducted from December 2017 to February 2018. However, the co-author conducted an initial study, as part of his Master’s thesis in Criminology at the University of Melbourne in 2005. This research builds on the earlier study in terms of some initial ideas. However, the data used in this article are the one collected in 2017–18. The analysis is, therefore, based on significantly extended field research and literature surveyed. The research tools employed were semi-structured interviews, focus group meetings, and observations. The study follows an interpretive research paradigm. The interpretative paradigm focuses on the meanings from the perspective of the participants involved in the social phenomenon, in contrast to statistical techniques that are employed heavily in positivist research ( Noon, 2018 ).

The study adopted a purposive sampling method to ensure that the participants selected fitted best for the phenomenon of police corruption being studies. Data analysis can become difficult and time exhaustive without proper screening of respondents. Measuring credentials method was used to remove unwanted participants ( Fluid Survey, 2013 ). The primary credentials considered were whether the participants possessed certain credentials (e.g. significant work experience) that made them suited for the study or whether they had in-depth knowledge or experience of encountering police corruption. Existing contacts and snowball technique were used, in the beginning. The snowball technique is consistent with purposive sampling, as groups of people recommend potential participants for the study ( Naderifar et al. , 2017 ).

Following Chadwick et al. (1984) , we triangulated the data. Triangulation involves the collection of data using different methods from different sources. In this case, the secondary sources included academic books and articles, newspaper articles, government documents, and primary data were collected through police officers (eight senior officers (deputy superintendents of police, superintendents of police (SPs), and deputy inspector general of police (DIGs)), six mid-level officers (i.e. station house officers (SHOs), investigating officers, and sub-inspectors), and six junior officers (police constables) participated in the research). Moreover, other policing stakeholders such as policy analysts (seven), criminal lawyers (seven), and members of the public (48 in 6 focus group meetings (each focus meeting comprised of eight participants)) participated. After completing interviewing 82 participants, the researchers reached a consensus that saturation was obtained in this study. Generally, 10–25 interviews are recommended to obtain saturation ( Creswell, 2013 ). The citation style of participants’ comments followed is consistent with Reynolds et al . (2018) study on police. In other words, we have followed the citation style of participants’ comments used by Reynolds et al.

Though there is no research regulatory body in Pakistan, the authors researched in compliance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018) . The participants were provided with the plain language state for their consent explaining the aims of the research and what was required of participants during interviews and focus meetings. All participants had signed informed consent to participate in the research. All interviews were taped and typed verbatim. The transcripts were later coded to protect the identities of participants. The names of participants; police stations in which they work; and the cities, villages, or districts in which their police stations are located are not mentioned to maintain confidentiality and anonymity. Also, to ensure confidentiality and anonymity, the roles of the participants are not revealed in the analysis that follows. Following the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007) , the data are stored in password-protected computer files for 5 years.

Upon completion of the interviews, transcripts were produced and compared with the audio recordings to ensure accuracy. The data obtained were thematically categorized at the stage of data analysis. 1 The categories identified were compared, and the relationships existed between and among them were examined. While doing this, personal notes, comments, or memos were made. These memos assisted in the reflection and discussion of research findings.

Having its epistemological roots in the West, and considered universally applicable, a widely accepted legal definition of corruption is ‘the abuse of public office for private gains’ ( Rose-Ackerman, 1996 ; Zakiuddin and Haque, 1998 ; Kaufmann and Vicente, 2011 ). Following this definition, the National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan (NAB Pakistan) defines corruption as a phenomenon that:

Involves behaviour on the part of officeholders in the public and private sectors, in which 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. More simply, it comprises the misuse of entrusted power for private benefit. (NAB Pakistan, 2002, p. 5)

Concerning the legal definition of police corruption, Punch (2009 , p. 18) suggested that it ‘refers to an officer knowingly doing or not doing something that is against his or her duty for some form of financial or material gain or promise of such gain’. Corrupt activities typically include bribery, extortion, perjury, and embezzlement ( Newburn, 1999 ). Roebuck and Barker (1974 ; but also see Sayed and Bruce, 1998 ) have provided the best known typology of corruption. They identified eight types of police corruption, i.e. corruption of authority (material gain without violating the law per se ); ‘Kickbacks’; opportunistic theft stealing from arrestees; ‘Shakedowns’ (acceptance of a bribe for not making an arrest, filing a complaint, etc.); illegal police protection of those engaged in illegal activities; ‘The fix’ (undermining of criminal investigations or proceedings, etc.); Direct criminal activities; internal payoffs (where holidays, shift allocations, promotion are bought, bartered, and sold). Punch (1985) added the 9th type, i.e. ‘Flaking’ or ‘padding’ (planting of or adding to evidence). This typology represents a hierarchy from the least to the most ‘serious’ corruption practices. The implicit argument in such a typology is that officers who become corrupt tend to start at the bottom with the least serious offences and then gradually progress to the other end of the spectrum. Kleinig (1996) referred to such an argument as the ‘slippery slope argument’. Singh (2015) added nepotism as corruption in the context of Afghanistan and argued that the system of patronage undermines the rule of law. All nine types of corruption and nepotistic activities in the Afghan context can be applicable to define police corruption in Pakistan.

While the typology of corruption helps define the phenomenon, to understand the complex causes of corruption, one needs to go beyond definitions ( Porter and Warrender, 2009 ). It becomes imperative to understand what it entails and who it implicates ( Porter and Warrender, 2009 ). Various theories of police corruption have conceptualized the causes differently. A brief analysis of a few specific theories of public sector corruption that talk about its causes equally relevant to police corruption is, therefore, in order. For our purposes, six theories, i.e. Public Choice Theory, Rotten Apple Theory, Organizational Culture Theory, Cultural Constraint theory, The Ethos of Public Administration Theory, and Correlation Theory can be identified.

The Public Choice Theory puts the onus of corrupt practices on rational individuals who choose the corrupt transaction by weighing the cost and benefits of such a transaction. Klitgaard (1988 , p. 70) in this context states, ‘if the benefits of corruption minus the probability of being caught times its penalties are greater than the benefits of not being caught, then an individual will rationally choose to be corrupt.’ Overall, the Public Choice Theory focuses on the specific situation of an agent (a corrupt official) instead of a larger social context that can be a general determining factor for corruption.

The Rotten Apple Theory locates the cause of corruption in the existence of people with faulty moral character, the so-called ‘rotten apples’ ( Jancsics, 2014 ). The theory professes that only a few corrupt officers are problematic instead of overall police institutions ( Newburn, 1999 ). It conceives corruption as an issue related to individual pathology leading to propensities of individuals to be corrupt ( Sherman, 1978 ; Tankebe, 2010 ). Consequently, the solution to the problem lies in ‘carefully screening applications for police positions, pursuing defective officers aggressively, and removing them from their police position before their behaviour spread through the agency’ ( Klockars, 1999 , p. 208).

However, several studies have demonstrated that police corruption is a systemic phenomenon ( Smith, 2010 ). The explanations based on individual pathology or deviances of police officers are, therefore, theoretically unsatisfying ( Tankebe, 2010 ). Several known examples of police corruption defy the ‘rotten apple’ theory, the classic one being the hearings of the Knapp Commission in New York that ‘destroyed the police unions argument that police corruption was confined to a few “rotten apples” in another health barrel’, as the Commission argued that the task of corruption control is to examine the barrel, not just the apples ( Sherman, 1978 , p. xxviii).

Those who advocate ‘examining the barrel’ proposition propose the institutional theory of corruption. This theory provides organizational perspective to police corruption. Such theory emphasizes on the culture and structure of the organization in which the agent works, instead of the background or motives of the corrupt officials ( Punch, 2000 ). Accordingly, the theory argues that proper management with clearly defined organizational goals and objectives, effective division of labour, and hierarchy of authority are essential to prevent officials from being corrupt. Moreover, a robust system of command and control, an ongoing process of accountability, effective communication, and mechanism of information within organizations are considered important to prevent corruption ( Dias and Vaughn, 2006 ). The breakdown of such organizational attributes, on the contrary, can lead to individual officials to be corrupt. The solution, therefore, is successful recruitment, screening, effective policy implementations, constant training, supervision, and discipline during the entire tenure of the officers’ service ( Lee et al. , 2013 ).

The Cultural Constraint Theory of Corruption goes even beyond organizational culture as corruption is considered at the level of society. According to this theory, certain cultural values and norms of society directly influence the values and norms of police officials, making them corrupt ( Waddington, 1999 ; Buttle et al. , 2016; , Hurbert, 2002 ). The culturalist view of corruption provides an alternative to the legalistic view. The legalistic view of corruption has been challenged by this school of thought that believes that like other social terms, there is no single set of words to define corruption because it depends on the social construction, customs, and norms of the community ( Gupta, 1995 ; Sissener, 2001 ). For example, Bardhan (1997 , p. 1330) noted that unlike the West:

It is widely recognised that in developing countries, gift-exchange is a major social norm in business transactions, and allegiance to kinship-based or clan-based loyalties often takes precedence over public duties even for salaried public officers.

give birth to what Gupta (1995) calls the blurring of boundaries between the state and society. Using the case study of Sharmaji, the lowest irrigation official involved in corrupt practices in India, he argued that Sharmaji poses, ‘an interesting challenge to Western notions of the boundary between “state” and “society” in some obvious ways’ ( Gupta 1995 , p. 384). The reason, he continues, is perhaps because ‘those categories are descriptively inadequate to the lived realities that they purport to represent’ (Gupta, 1995, p. 384). In the case of India, he opines, therefore, that the discourse of corruption gives birth to people’s discursive construction of the state (and helps the state’s functioning; Gupta, 1995 ).

Explaining the cultural aspects of corruption, Olivier de Sardan (1999 , p. 2) used the expression ‘moral economy’ referring to ‘the value systems and cultural codes, which allow a justification of corruption by those who practice it (and who do not necessarily consider, quite the contrary, it to be such) and an anchorage of corruption as banal everyday practice.’ In such a situation, public employees find themselves in a schizophrenic situation. Their ‘administrative and professional legitimacy is derived from their training in modern European administration (which is now a worldwide standard) and therefore in its values concerning the public service’ ( Olivier de Sardan, 1999 , p. 20). However, the social legitimacy of government officials implies, on the contrary, that they act in conformity with more or less contradictory ‘socio-cultural’ logics. The apparent adherence to the so-called rational official norms of European origin accompanied by the concept of neutral State working for public interest coexists comfortably ‘with an equally prevalent pattern of behaviour in conformity with social norms in favour of the pre-eminence of private and partisan interests’ ( Olivier de Sardan, 1999 , p. 20). Such a scenario creates a situation of blurring of boundaries between the state and society.

Overall, the proponents of the cultural view argue that different societies will have to deal with the issue differently, keeping in view the specific nature, characteristics, patterns, and organizational structure of the phenomenon ( Sissener, 2001 ).

The Ethos of Public Administration Theories argues that corruption is a result of culture within public management and society in general ( Gregory, 1999 ). The theories are related to Organizational Culture Theories but also vary because the concern is not merely the organizational culture. The main argument is that the structure of the state, which is influenced by societies’ social structures influences the way a certain ethos is maintained in favour or against corrupt practices at the organizational and individual levels. Following Heywood (1997) , Graaf (2007) argued that the Ethos of Public Administration Theory shares close synergies with the ‘structural approach’ to political corruption.

The Correlational Theory literature put forward a view that corruption can be understood at all levels, i.e. social, political, organizational, and individual levels. The variables considered are on all possible levels: individual, organizational, societal, and structural (governance; Graaf, 2007 ). As mentioned earlier, the economic, cultural, and political causes of police corruption in Pakistan that have emerged from our research findings, we, therefore, find Correlation Theory of Corruption most relevant to contextualize our research. However, though it will be demonstrated in the next section that an overarching factor is political, that is, police corruption exists primarily as the ruling elite benefit from it in Pakistan.

This section analyses three prime causes of police corruption in Pakistan, i.e. (1) economic, (2) cultural, and (3) the politicization of the police.

Khan (2006) argued that political stabilization in advanced countries could typically be achieved through transparent redistributions through the fiscal process, whereas political stabilization in the context of underdevelopment in developing countries involves political corruption. At the level of the economy, greater tax revenues in advanced countries mean that political stabilization can be achieved with in the form of transparent fiscal transfers. At the same time, the productive sector generates enough of a surplus to pay taxes for the effective protection of property rights, limiting the possibility of expropriation. On the contrary, in developing countries, the tax base is low, and the distribution of resources is not transparent. In the case of Pakistan, the tax regime is regressive, where the poor pay more taxes, enhancing poverty further. The distribution of resources is non-transparent, and politicians in power prefer to spend more on projects that have more visibility and better optics to fetch votes, compared to spending more on citizens’ security and development. Resultantly, the police officers are paid low wages, and police operations are not adequately resourced. The combination of both leads to police corruption. An analysis of both is given below.

Rose-Ackerman (1999 , p. 72) noted that in countries where police officials are not provided with adequate wages, the police force engages in corrupt transactions for survival. Her observation neatly fits the case of Pakistan. In a country where 4 out of 10 Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty, there are numerous incentives for corruption ( UNDP, 2016 ). The discretionary powers of police officers are plenty. There is no risk involved in corruption since the entire system is corrupt ( Khan et al., 2012 ). The salary package of police officers is in extreme contrast to the powers entrusted to them. The monthly salary of a police constable is around US$ 83 per month, a head constable US$ 89, a sub-inspector US$ 107, an inspector US$ 122, a SP US$ 288, a DIG of police US$ 576, an inspector general of police $ 577 (GoP, 2017–18). Some officers get extra allowances because of their specific assignments, but the overall picture is not different from the one painted above.

The average cost of living is extremely high, i.e. PKR 119,927.81 (US$ 776.726 per month) ( TransferWise, 2017 ). It, therefore, becomes difficult even for senior police officers to make both ends meet. According to all police officers, there are very few government residences available for the low-ranking officers. In big urban centres, accommodation is often not available for high-ranking police officers either. Since there is no ‘provision of health insurance by the government, the police personnel have to bear the cost of healthcare from their small pay package’ (Senior officer 1). The annual inflation rate is in double digits, and ‘the increase in salary other than yearly increments is announced after five to seven years’ (Senior officer 2). Junior officers (90%) complained that there is no formal leave system and they spend never-ending hours. They blamed their senior colleagues for not providing them breathing space to relax and maintain work–leisure balance. The police officers ‘are supposed to be on duty for 16–18 hours without any extra remuneration, seven days a week, and there are no regular duty rosters in operation’ (Junior officer 3). The prolonged work hours and low salaries ‘cause enormous stress and depression among officers’ (Junior officer 4). The rest of the 10% junior officers were of the view that the shortage of adequate police officers is a significant cause of their overwork. This view was shared by all senior and mid-level police officers too.

The lack of provision of adequate wages, therefore, deteriorates the quality of work, productivity, and morale. Economists argue that low wages negatively impact the morale and productivity of the workforce (Paul and Du, 2018). If this is accompanied by long working hours, the effect on morale and productivity can be extreme and become a disincentive for clean behaviour. It is because of these reasons that the lack of adequate investment in human resources was considered to be the cause of frustration and corruption within the police force.

Lack of police operational resources

Apart from the above, there are other structural causes of police corruption in Pakistan. As mentioned before, the police stations are not provided with any funds to run their everyday official business. As Chino points out, ‘police mandates are still unfunded, with the average budget for a police station per year being a mere PKR 8,000 (US$120)’ ( Chino, 2001 , p. 42). The ‘increase in the budget is still not significant’ (Senior officer 4). The recent report (2017–18) from the office of the Inspector General of Police Punjab reveals that only 12% of the total budget is allocated for police operations. The rest of the amount is spent on salaries and allowances (GoP, 2017–18). However, even for salaries and allowance, 88% of the budget of PKR 1,970 billion (US$ 12.76 million) is meagre for a police force responsible for maintaining law and order for a population of 110,012,442 in Punjab. Despite such a meagre budget, there has been hardly any pay reform process introduced by the government.

Senior police officers stated that police stations are defaulters of hundreds of thousands of rupees regarding payment of utility bills. Police are not made accountable because ‘the officers in different utility departments do not bother police stations for defaults due to the coercive powers of the police’ (Senior official 3). The fuel is rationed per police station. However, ‘police station vehicles are provided with six litres of diesel per day in rural areas. In some police stations, fuel for vehicles is not provided at all’ (Mid-level officer 6). According to another mid-level police officer:

In practice, both in rural and urban areas, it is an unofficial responsibility of police stations to mobilise their resources to bear all operating costs ranging from the investigation of a crime, arranging vehicles and fuel for raids, expenses of forensic tests and serologist, chemical examiners and firearms expert reports to utility bills, and even stationary for office use. Such a practice forces police to mobilise the required resources through unofficial means (Mid-level officer 3).

The resources are mobilized through kickbacks; taking bribes for not registering First Investigation Report, protecting criminals, undermining criminal investigations, and adding or removing evidence against or in favour of someone convicted and getting bribes from arrestees (Criminal Lawyer 1). Moreover, police stations are bought and sold and bribery for promotions is given to senior officers (Criminal Lawyer 1). Such corrupt activities testify the typology of corruption identified by Roebuck and Baker (1974).

Also, a police station arranges resources to fulfil the demands made by the senior officers. Most of these demands are made by officers known to be corrupt. For example, ‘if a senior police officer wants to buy a computer for his son or a daughter, all he has to do is to call officer-in-charge of a police station, and the demand would be fulfilled’ (Mid-level officer 5). The term used for the demands made by senior officers is known as; fatik , an Urdu version of ‘fatigue’ which is a military term meaning excessive labour. It is important to note that even honest police officers fail to control corruption.

Once, police officers were instructed by a Superintendent of Police to abstain from corruption. The same evening when he asked the positions of patrolling vehicles of police stations, he found that some of them were parked in police stations instead of patrolling. He asked the SHOs furiously to tell the reason, and they replied that the diesel provided by the government had finished and since they were instructed to abstain from corruption, the vehicles were parked in police stations. Next morning, the SP called the meeting again and said to SHOs to carry on with the past practices but refrain from taking money in investigations (Mid-level officer 4).

The above example illustrates that due to resource constraints, it is impossible for even an honest officer to avoid corruption to run the official business while doing their duties. They mobilize such resources through enormous powers entrusted to them. Such a situation signifies that corruption exists at the individual level because of the institutional structures, which force police officers to indulge in corrupt transactions to run their offices, leaving no moral justification not to do so at a personal level. For police officers, corruption, therefore, becomes a kind of noble cause to run police stations because they consider that ‘bribery is valid as it leads to the cause of protecting citizens and maintaining law and order in society’ (Senior officer 3).

The members of the public shared interesting views about the above situation. Though they showed reluctance to approach police even to report a crime because of the fear of extortion, they were sympathetic concerning the current state of police officers’ well-being and thought that police often do not have options to survive without corruption. For example, one of them opined that:

Although people are fearful of visiting police stations because of their corruption and brutal attitudes, and I do not justify corruption in any form, but what can a police officer do if he is unable to meet the basic needs of his family through the salary offered to him. Nevertheless, they should not take bribes from poor citizens and not be brutal with ordinary citizens. They should avoid abusive language and use of violence to harass people.

The above views signify the legitimacy of police corruption in people’s eyes, but they oppose any act of violence by police officers.

The causes of corruption also have cultural dimensions. The expression of ‘moral economy’ used by Olivier de Sardan (1999) , in African context, explains the ‘cultural embeddedness of corruption’ . Cultural embeddedness of corruption, however, does not refer to a backward, monolithic, or determinist theory of culture. It rather pinpoints to ‘certain social norms widely represented in today’s Africa, which “communicate” with or influence the practices of corruption’ ( Olivier de Sardan, 1999 , p. 2). Inherent in the ‘moral economy’ is the logics of redistributive accumulation, i.e. a government official when acquires a position of authority (small or big) not only benefits his/her family but also works for the benefit of his/her extended family, acquaintances, and the village in a kinship-/clan-based societies.

Such an aspect of the ‘moral economy’ is relevant to police corruption in the Pakistani context. Pakistani society is based on a strong kinship-based culture ( Lyon, 2004 ), where individuals do not exist as individuals but in relation to others. In most cases, the financial burden of meeting family, and many a time, the extended family members fall on the heads of the family. An example of a junior police officer is instructive:

I have the responsibility to feed my family and my brother’s family, which includes my six children and his wife, along with the three children and a wife of my deceased brother. My conscience, as well as the fear of being stigmatised by my extended family for not supporting my late brother’s family, forces me to take care of them too. In the absence of adequate salary and social services available to me, I have no choice but to earn money from illegal means. (Junior officer 3)

Though it might be difficult to generalize the above case, there is a trend of having large families 2 in Pakistan, and the responsibility of one person (mostly male) to feed these families is a huge burden (since the dependence is on one person, there is hardly a rotation strategy within families). Gift exchange and meeting other expectations of extended family members are also common. The public, in general, is aware of such a reality and as mentioned in the previous section, they are sympathetic to police taking bribes for survival. Referring to societal norms, a member of the public opined that:

In our culture, we have a biradari 3 system, and we have to meet the expectations of our biradari. Police officials are also human beings like us. They also have responsibilities to their families and their biradari. We have to be collegial and generous enough to help each other, especially in difficult times to maintain relationships within our biradari and friends. All this requires resources. If the income is not enough what other choices we have. In such circumstances and given an opportunity, anyone would take a bribe.

The nature of the social fabric and the economic hardship faced by police officers even to run their official business are critical factors contributing to widespread police corruption. However, as noted by a senior police officer, ‘bribers often exploit the prevalent social norm of gift exchange and present the government officers with expensive gifts to obtain favours’ (Senior police officer 6). The above is in line with what Chattha and Ivkovic (2004 , p. 167) following Roebuck and Baker (1974) called ‘corruption of authority’ and suggested that ‘the leadership of the police department considers this to be a system of informal rewards provided that the officers receiving such gifts are acceptable to the department and that the corruptors belong to the respectable class of citizens’. Such a situation leads to a complex spectrum of corruption where the legalistic and cultural conceptions of corruption overlap and create a room to what Olivier de Sardan (1999) called the moral economy of corruption.

Politicization of policing

Political influence on police is widespread in South Asia. For example, Lamani and Venumadhava (2013 , p. 234) noted that ‘it has been commonplace in India for transfers and postings of officers to be used as a kind of reward and punishment, as a result of which, many chiefs of police have had allegiances to political parties.’ In Bangladesh also, political influence contributes to police corruption (see Kashem, 2005 ). In Afghanistan, the influence of political elites affiliated with drug traffickers on police has resulted in bribery, extortion, and ethnic favouritism ( Singh, 2014 ).

In Pakistan, the police station is the axis institution around which the politics of the country revolve, and ‘the worth of a politician in his/her constituency is judged in terms of his ability to influence the police’ (Policy analyst 1). The police investigation officers ‘are expected to oblige politicians because the politicians take offence if the police fail to do so’ (Policy analyst 5). The transfer and postings of police officers are, therefore, a politicized activity. At the provincial level, ‘the transfers of District Police Officers (DPOs) are entirely at the disposal of Chief Ministers (CM) of the provinces’ (Policy analyst 3). During various regimes, ‘the heads of police in different provinces have long been asking for the executive powers to post the district Superintendents of Police, but not many of them have succeeded’ (Policy analyst 2).

Political influence on the transfer and postings of police officers is a powerful instrument for controlling the police department. A policy analyst in this context noted that:

It is not considered corruption if a police officer asks a politician 4 to get him a posting of his choice. But then such favours come at a price such as favouring the politician in police investigations, posting SHOs of their choice to establish the authority of a politician in his constituency, irrespective of any considerations of efficiency and integrity. Very rarely, an officer gets a good posting without political patronage. The workplace procedures are seldom followed (Policy analyst 6)

He further said that the concept of ‘good postings’ refers to field assignments where a police officer is in charge of a jurisdiction exercising significant influence on people’s lives and liberties and provides them with opportunities for embezzlement and corruption. In this context, police officers, either lacking political contacts or not willing to serve politicians, suffer. Another policy analyst noted that:

The police officers with no access to political support mostly end up as Officer on Special Duty (OSD). The post of OSD is considered no less than punishment to officers who do not serve the interests of politicians because they are hardly assigned any work or offices, and are never given field postings (Policy analyst 7).

The powerful landowners dominate politics in Pakistan. All members of the public were of the view that there is an overwhelming representation of the landowning class in the politics of Pakistan. In the urban centre, they opined, the paradigm is shifting towards industrialists and business people. These distinctions are also blurring since the business class is also acquiring land holdings to assume political power and landowners are investing in industries and business enterprises to accumulate wealth—a key, to participating in politics. A member of the public opined that ‘politicians’ wealth and power becomes instrumental in politicising police and benefits them and police officials alike’.

Another member of the public argued that ‘the control of the police force is the dream of every Pakistani politician, for it means the power to harass, hound and make life miserable for their opponents’. They were highly fretful about the abuse and politicization of police by politicians. They held politicians responsible for police corruption and brutality. A member of the public stated that ‘the police is corrupt and acts rudely and violently with citizens because the ruling elite has given them unlimited authority and they know they are not accountable to anyone’.

The legislative aspect of providing police with unbridled legal authority is a horrific phenomenon. A criminal lawyer noted that:

The draconian colonial laws to subvert political uprising are still not only present on paper but are frequently practised in spirit. The legislative aspect of providing police with unbridled legal authority to crush political opposition is a horrific phenomenon (Criminal lawyer 1).

The above observation is affirmed by Section 16 of the notorious Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Act that allows police to detain any person found guilty of disrupting public peace to prison up to 6 months. Once the person is prosecuted under 16 MPO, the judicial function is superseded by the executive function, and the appeals have to be made to the Home Office to withdraw the order (see Maintenance of Police Order (MPO, 1960) . Section 144 of the criminal procedure code, if enforced in a district, bans any form of an assembly of four or more people, and they can be booked in violation of Section 144 (MPO, 1960 ).

None of the successive governments ever thought of abolishing these laws, ‘as they were often found very useful to maintain control’ (Criminal lawyer 2). Another criminal lawyer stated that:

The Criminal Procedure Code and other numerous Acts, having their roots in the colonial period, empower police to play havoc with civil liberties and with the fundamental human rights of people. Politicians and police have abused human rights and civil liberties with impunity (Criminal lawyer 4).

According to all criminal lawyers, when police are used to further the political ends of politicians, a culture of collusion is developed. Such a culture erodes the concept of accountability, and whatever mechanism of institutional or public accountability is present, it is rendered toothless. A comment by a criminal lawyer is instructive:

If an honest police officer, therefore, wants to initiate departmental action against a corrupt subordinate, he can do little, because of the pressure from politicians to drop the proceedings. If the officer decides to go ahead with the action, the corrupt officer would use his political link to influence the superior officer and would either get the punishment withdrawn or converted into a minor sanction bearing no effect on the career of the corrupt officer, making a mockery of the accountability system (Criminal lawyer 3).

Such situation is not likely to change overnight, and the influence of politicians and influential people on police remains in most provinces because as mentioned earlier, the police stations are the hub of electoral politics and are used for intimidating politicians from opposition parties, rigging elections, and maintain patron–client political relations. The political will to free the police force from political pressures and manipulation, therefore, does not seem to be visible. Without the political will of the ruling elite, it is highly unlikely that the current state of police practices would change.

The study findings explicitly demonstrate that a comprehensive account of police corruption in Pakistan is inconceivable without analysing the correlation of corruption at the economic, cultural, and political levels. Two economic causes for the individual as well as institutional corruption have been identified. One, low wages, and, two, lack of adequate operational budget. Low wages lead to corruption at an individual level because police officers make rational choices in the absence of any risks of being caught as proposed by the Public Choice Theory. A few rotten apples might also have been recruited. Lack of adequate resources for day-to-day police operations forces police officials for corrupt transactions, as without such transactions they can hardly run their official business, validating the Institutional Theory of police corruption. The Public Choice Theory and the Institutional Theory of police corruption are thus interlinked as the predicament of generating institutional resources through corrupt transactions leaves no moral justification not to get bribes for personal gains. Corruption for personal gains to mitigate the effects of the low wage for survival as well as extravagant living in some cases at the senior level, and as an operational necessity, therefore, cannot be separated in the case of police corruption in Pakistan.

It is important to mention that in the above context, Khalid (2016 , p. 256) study on three traffic police departments in three cities such as Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Attock in Pakistan, argues that provision of more resources for paying better salaries does not seem to limit integrity violations. However, the argument does not seem to hold grounds because as mentioned in our research findings the raise in salaries is given after 5–7 years, which does not seem to be adequate to limit integrity violations in the police force.

The Cultural Constraint Theory is also present in Pakistani policing because of the nature of the social fabric and the blurring of the boundary between the state and society. The biradari liabilities with a large family and a huge dependency burden on one person who is not paid enough to live a decent life forces him/her to be corrupt. The corrupt transaction that the officer is involved in not only benefit his/her family but the extended family as well according to the logics of redistributive accumulation inherent within ‘moral economy’ ( Olivier de Sardan, 1999 ).

The research findings indicate that the Ethos of Public Administration Theory is also relevant to policing in Pakistan, as the structure of the state is dominated by the moral economy linked to patron–client politics where police officials facing economic hardship are patronized by politicians to quell the opposition and control people in their constituencies. Following Graaf (2007) such a situation does allude to the ‘structural approach’ to political corruption having synergies with the Ethos of Public Administration Theory.

Overall, the Correlational Theory of police corruption that encompasses all relevant theories (discussed above and relevant to our research findings) explains the pervasive presence of police corruption in Pakistan. However, since the patron–client structure of the state determines the very field of action of police officers by trading off adequate budget for policing with that of more popular projects leading to more visible optics to fetch more votes, the ethos of public administration theory within the Correlational Theory explains the primary cause of corruption—i.e. the structure of the state governance and politics in Pakistan.

argued that in advanced liberalized industrial countries living standards of citizens largely depend on the productive capitalist sector resulting from direct taxation and the purchasing power of the capitalist sector resulting into more democratic and transparent redistribution creating stability in society. As mentioned in ‘Conceptualising corruption’ section, in developing countries, the productive capitalist sector is small, and the direct tax base is low. In Pakistan, the direct tax base is so narrow that only 1% of people in Pakistan pay taxes ( The News, 2019 ), which makes the state poor due to highly unregulated economy. Unlike advanced Western countries, stability in Pakistan is, therefore, not maintained through transparent redistribution of resources but the chain of patronage right from the parliamentarians down to the people. As noted by Uberti (2016 , p. 330) in such societies, ‘true participants in corrupt exchange frame their interactions through culturally specific scripts and norms.’

Moreover, unlike advanced industrial countries, the primary logic of patronage in post-colonial agrarian societies is that the distribution of economic resources is not open to all citizens, state departments, and sections of society on an equal basis ( North et al. , 2009 ). Such logic is relevant to Pakistan, especially in the case of the police force, which receives meagre resources compared to some other state institutions. Such seems to be the case of police in other countries in South Asia as well. For example, meagre resources provided to the police leading to low wages, extended work hours, and the problems of accommodation are some of the factors responsible for the police corruption in India ( Verma, 1999 ). Similarly, according to Singh (2014) , poor wages lead to bribery and extortion within the Afghan police force. Moreover, Singh’s (2019 , p. 24) six-fold typology, excluding treason, is relevant to police corruption in Pakistan. Though, as mentioned by Singh with reference to Afghanistan, there is a high level of unprofessionalism in Pakistan too, no police officer has ever been reported to commit treason. Moreover, the lack of motivation in the police force is demonstrated in our research findings, the corrupt transactions, in the eyes of police officials and community members, seems to lead to a noble cause of running their official business in the absence of adequate resources provided to them. Without corruption, they think, they would not be able to run their police stations.

Consequently, as demonstrated in this article, police corruption, becomes an institutionalized and legitimized phenomenon. For example, it is not considered corruption if a police officer asks a politician to get him a posting of his choice or to mobilize resources to run the day-to-day police operations through informal/illegitimate means. With low salaries and the provision of inadequate means for their well-being, when police officers mobilize resources for police operations, they mobilize resources for themselves too. Corruption, therefore, gains certain legitimacy. Such a situation further gains currency because of kinship responsibilities of police officers to meet the demands of their immediate as well as extended family members. It is, therefore, that corruption (or exchanges considered corrupt in Western societies) may not be legal but ‘like patronage and clientelism have its own morality, at least in the eye of the local public’ ( Shore and Haller, 2005 , p.12). As a result, even a few honest officials who abstain from corrupt transactions are not in a position to control institutional corruption.

Rijckeghem and Weder (2001 , p. 324) cross-country analysis of 31 developing countries suggest that in a corrupt system, increase in wages does not significantly reduce corruption unless there is a political will for strong anti-corruption efforts and policies to reform the society. Similarly, Quah (2006 ; 2010) noted that Singapore and Hong Kong have significantly overcome police corruption in the post-colonial period through a significant increase in salaries and better training and recruitment, etc. However, the most important factor behind police reforms in these countries was the political will of the ruling elite to curb police corruption. In Singapore, reforms became powerful since the People’s Action Party government came to power. The amendment of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 1960 defined corruption explicitly and gave the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) wider powers. Indeed, ‘the greater vigilance of the CPIB in recent years has also made it difficult for Singaporeans in general and members of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in particular to indulge in corrupt behaviour’ Quah (2006 , p. 65). Similarly, in Hong Kong, right from its inception, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heavily resourced by the government adopted a three-pronged strategy of focusing on investigating and preventing corruption, and educating the public and obtaining their support in curbing corruption ( Quah, 2010 ).

To conclude, it is because of the inadequate provision of sources to the police force, and patron–client social and political culture that the political-elite benefits from corrupt police in Pakistan. Consequently, due to the lack of political will at the highest level (as the ruling elite spends more resources of projects that have better optics compared to citizens security), the unscrupulous politicians and even less scrupulous senior police officers systematically undermine the efforts of the few relatively honest and competent officers. Pakistan can follow the examples of Singapore and Hong Kong to curb police corruption.

The research findings and analysis will surely add to the understanding of police audience in Pakistan and South Asia generally on multifaceted causes of police corruption. Moreover, while the article adds to the literature on police corruption in Pakistan, much remains to be done at the research level. Lack of research also hampers efforts; both the government and police leadership must encourage research. This study has focused on the causes of police corruption. It is imperative to conduct more studies which would likely to facilitate the availability of further information and analysis, multiple policy options, frameworks for reforms, and programmes for improvement in training and curriculum; increasing public awareness; changing organizational culture; provision of modern technology for investigation and reform of the criminal justice system for police accountability.

Broader themes were developed through codes. For example, codes such as low wages, work–leisure balance, and inadequate operational funds led to themes such as ‘Survival (Individual and Institutional)’; codes such as ‘large families’, ‘kinship obligations’ led to themes such as ‘cultural constraints’ and ‘political patronage’ led to themes such as ‘politicisation’.

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Corruption in Pakistan, its causes, impacts, and practicable measures

Syed Muhammad Hamza
January 28, 2022
CSS , Current Affairs , Featured , Governance in Pakistan , Opinions , Pakistan's Domestic Affairs , Pakistani Society
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Corruption in Pakistan, its causes, impacts, and practicable measures | Best for CSS, PMS Current Affairs, Pakistan Affairs, and Essay Papers

The answer is solved on the given pattern, which Sir Syed Kazim Ali teaches to his students, who consistently score the maximum because of their attempting the questions. The content is based on historical facts taught by Miss Nirmal Hasni , current affairs coach and Sir Rameez Ch Pakistan Affairs coach helping aspirants for years.

INTRODUCTION

Corruption has emerged as an existential threat to Pakistan’s social, economic, and political progress without transparency, accountability, and efficient bureaucracy. However, some pragmatic steps, such as bureaucratic reforms, access to information, and promotion of a democratic environment, may help mitigate social evil.

CURRENT SITUATION

WHAT ARE THE LEADING FACTORS BEHIND CORRUPTION IN PAKISTAN?

Lack of transparency
The overlapping jurisdiction of institutions
Recruitment and appointment based on favouritism and political background

HOW HAS CORRUPTION IMPACTED THE STATE?

Seeping of funds into the pockets of authoritarians
Vanishing meritocracy
Overpowering the institutions

HOW TO CONTROL CORRUPTION IN PAKISTAN?

To reform the regulatory system
To give access to information to the citizens
To set exemplary decisions by the judiciary
To block the political involvement
To enhance the accountability system

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Answer to the Question

Introduction

Nothing seems to hamper the socio-economic development and the political progress of a country more than corruption. It hinders an efficient democratic environment from prevailing in the state. Pakistan, unfortunately, has been a victim of corruption for decades. Injuring the state’s economic health, corruption has also gained social acceptance in Pakistani society in some ways. Moreover, social frustration and the loss of legitimacy of the institutions are the prominent impacts of corruption in the polity. However, several reasons have drowned the state into the sea of corruption. Some of them are inefficient bureaucracy, the absence of transparency, and the lack of accountability. Therefore, its high time for Pakistan to take practical measures to obliterate corruption from society. For instance, promoting the democratised society, resisting the political involvement in institutions, and giving access to information to people may help fight social evil successfully. The following answer highlights the causes, impacts, and suggestions regarding corruption.

Current Situation

At present, the issue of corruption has become a matter of grave sickness for Pakistan, pushing the country to the bleak. It manifests in multiple forms across the country, including widespread financial and political corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power that, consequently, cast dire consequences on the socio-economic and political life of people. As per the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index report, Pakistan stands 124th based on corruption-free governance. Despite having multiple corruption laws, agencies and independent accountability bureaus, Pakistan lag behind India in reducing corruption. Although the government has recently taken concrete measures to counter the menace, the remedy seems afar. It would take some time for the positive impact of the reforms to seep in.

What are the leading factors behind corruption in Pakistan?

Amongst several reasons for corruption, the absence of transparency stands the most prominent one. It is hard for people to understand the complex and hidden governance procedures in the institutions. In fact, the absence of transparency becomes more lethal with the lack of accountability. As a result, the discretionary power enjoyed by personnel or institutions, in some cases, causes the monopoly over society. Furthermore, Pakistan is one of the most overregulated countries in the world. Furthermore, the overlapping of jurisdictions of the institutions hurts the governance of the state. It creates an opportunity for corruption to spread like a fire in a system. In addition to it, the culture of nepotism and favouritism has heralded good governance in Pakistan. Moreover, the recruitment and appointment of employees based on political background have killed the essence of democracy in the institutions. Thus, corruption has been a cause of several social, political, and economic issues.

How has corruption impacted the state?

Nothing hurts the country socially, politically, and economically the way corruption does. In economic realms, corruption has created an opportunity to misuse discretionary powers held by the authoritarians of the state’s institutions. The authoritarians have used the state’s funds and resources to achieve their vested interests. Moreover, corruption has hurt the culture of meritocracy in the state’s institutions. As a result, inefficient people are running the matters of state. In addition to the economic impacts, corruption has also impacted the state’s political realms. The executive and judiciary institutions’ autonomy and independence are under the immense influence of politics. The decisions made by the judiciary is not the same; it usually favours government policies even if they are against the interest of the public. Furthermore, corruption has also caused social frustration in society. It has declined the Pakistani society morally. Unfortunately, today corruption has gained social acceptance and acknowledgement in society. Thus, it is true to say corruption is the mother of all social evils.

How can Pakistan control corruption?

First, it is high time for Pakistan to reform its regulatory system. Since the laws are overregulated, the departmental procedures are complex to understand for the citizens. Simplifying the vague laws and making them transparent and accessible to the citizens would be an efficient way to cope with corruption. Moreover, information must be made accessible to the citizens. This way, the opportunity of corruption for the institutions and authoritative people would become less. In addition to it, the judiciary must play its professional role and should build its deterrence in society through exemplary decisions. It must also empower its internal accountability system of judges so that its judges don’t misuse discretionary power. Similarly, check and balance over each state’s institutions must be ensured. As it is remarkably said, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” . To the abovementioned pragmatic measures, a decrease of political interference in executive and judiciary matters must also be added to mitigate corruption from society. Indeed, the efficiency and workability of good governance are impossible without the autonomous and independent status of the institutions. Therefore, the institutions’ recruitment and other administrative procedures should be pure of political influence. Thus, these are a few practical measures to control corruption in Pakistan.

Critical Analysis

Corruption is the mother of all social evils. Corruption has given birth to unemployment, poverty, economic crisis, good governance crisis, water crisis, and energy crisis. Disturbing the economy and peace of Pakistani society, corruption has exerted repulsion on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). As a result, Pakistan has received aid from the IMF, WB, and other forums. In the name of financial and economic help, Pakistan has been chained in several sanctions by the international superpowers, making its sovereignty insecure. Thus, corruption has ultimately weakened the state’s national security.

Despite hundreds of determinations made by each successive government, corruption stands uncured. It has killed meritocracy, snatched the legitimacy of the elected governments, and made the public lose their trust in the institutions. The absence of accountability, rising trend of nepotism, and the concentration of power on a certain group or class of society are a few prominent reasons behind it. However, promoting transparency and accountability, restructuring the democratic system in the state, and educating citizens the moral values may help the society to pluck itself out of the malice of corruption.

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