On November 28, the Rule of Law Index 2012 declared Pakistan as the 7th most errant country out of 97 countries. And on December 5, the Transparency International (TI) Index on perceived levels of public sector corruption placed Pakistan at 139th position among 176 countries - a ranking up from 42nd position to 27th. Even if the authorities may seek to trivialise this highly disturbing rise in the level of corruption as merely perceptional and conjectural the truth remains that democracies are the end-product of public perceptions. And so is the case with people of other counties who too judge us in the light of these perceptions and decide accordingly. No wonder direct foreign investment in Pakistan has plummeted to new lows.
We apprehend that the TI CPI 2012 observation that 'corruption ravages societies around the world' will act as a placebo with authorities insisting 'we all are in the same boat' and thus deflect painful realisation - we are expected to be watchful against such complacency otherwise at the present speed we would be hitting the rock bottom in the next two to three years to be in the company of Somalia, Afghanistan and North Korea.
The trek may be long but time is short. Only a determined and if required harsh paradigm shift in thought and action has to be effected in order to avert the impending catastrophe. Pity the accountability process is too slow and institutions expected to combat the menace of rising corruption have become controversial. Isn't it diabolical that in utter defiance of the Supreme Court order, former Prime Minister Gilani refuses to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to record his statement in a case which tends to place him at the centre of a scandalous appointment. His hands may be clean and we are no judge to form an opinion about him but we do feel that by appearing before NAB he would be adding to his political stature.
We also do not believe that Imran Khan or for that matter anybody else has a magic broom to cleanse society of corruption in a couple of months, but we do believe that we are left with no other option but to go after this demon that is gaining strength by the day. Corruption is deeply entrenched in our society. According to the NAB chairman, daily corruption is to the tune of Rs 7 billion - with tentacles long enough to touch the highest places.
Of course, at lower levels, like revenue departments, district courts and police stations, corruption is the essential lubricant to move files and given its ages-old perpetuity it has acquired a kind of sanctity and may not be that easy for anyone to eradicate it in a foreseeable future. But it is that massive corruption in the shape of kickbacks, illegal commissions, and unprotected advances released in the name of mobilisation cost and undeserved salaries and fringe benefits given to top officials that has earned Pakistan the unenviable rank in the public perception surveys at home and abroad. The ratings of Pakistan and other countries by the Transparency International were based on the rule of law, the cost of doing business, the judicial system and integrity and effectiveness of police force. How do we score on this board? As far as rule of law is concerned, we don't have it anymore. Imagine a law as basic and innocuous that all vehicles should have registration number plates issued by the registration authority cannot be enforced. Can you think of a one-window operation available to an honest businessman - local or foreigner? Where does stand the 'judicial system'? Just count the Supreme Court verdicts/orders that remain unimplemented. And we don't have a police that can be described as independent of political influence - as simple as that. We as a people of Pakistan are caught between rock and a hard place; somehow in Pakistan the functional democracy and corruption appear to be congenital. How soon, if at all, we would be able to break this nexus we expect TI to come up with an answer!