KARACHI - Land services (land revenue) is the most corrupt institution in Pakistan followed by police department, reveals a global corruption survey released by Transparency International on Tuesday.
The study – Global Corruption Barometer 2013 – puts the utilities department third on the corruption index for Pakistan, the taxation department fourth, the registry and permit services fifth. Interestingly, the judiciary comes sixth on this list, medical and health services seventh and the education sector as the eighth most corrupt institution.
Transparency International Pakistan Sohail Muzaffar and advisor Adil Gilani made public the results of the report in which 114,000 people in 107 countries were queried for their views on corruption in their country. The survey was conducted between August and September last year.
In Pakistan about 1200 people, equally from provinces with urban rural ratio, were asked four questions. At least 54 percent respondents believed corruption had increased a lot during the last two years, while merely 5 percent believed it had decreased a lot. Seventy-five percent of people surveyed said corruption was a problem in the public sector in Pakistan, as they believed that land services/land revenue was the most corrupt institution. Sixty-five percent believed security forces or police institution was the most corrupt in the country, while 55 percent respondents believed tax officials as the most corrupt. Judiciary ranked sixth on the corruption index, medical and health services seventh and education eighth.
According to the barometer, at least 27 per cent of respondents have paid a bribe when accessing public services and institutions in the last 12 months, showing no improvement from the previous surveys.
More than one person in two thinks corruption has worsened in the last two years, but survey participants also firmly believe they would make a difference and have the will to take action against graft.
Still, nearly nine out of 10 people surveyed said they would act against corruption and two-thirds of those who were asked to pay a bribe had refused, suggesting that the governments, civil society and business sector needed to do more to engage people in thwarting corruption.
"Bribe paying levels remain very high worldwide, but people believe they have the power to stop corruption and the number of those willing to combat the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery is significant," TI official Muzafar said while quoting the Huguette Labelle, the chair of Transparency International. He stressed upon the government to address corruption with an iron hand as economic conditions were at their lowest due to rampant irregularities in the country.
TI adviser Adil Gilani expected the PML-N government would adhere to the promises it made in its election manifesto of ‘zero tolerance for corruption’.
The barometer also found that in too many countries the institutions people relied on to fight corruption and other crimes were themselves not trusted. Thirty-sex countries viewed police as the most corrupt, and in those countries an average of 53 per cent of people had been asked to pay a bribe.
Similarly, 20 countries viewed the judiciary as the most corrupt, and in those countries an average of 30 per cent of the people who had come in contact with the judicial systems had been asked to pay a bribe.