ACCORDING to a report by Transparency International, corruption in the provinces of Punjab and Balochistan has declined, but increased in Sindh and NWFP. With 2006 as the baseline, the incidence in Sindh has gone up by 5 percent and in NWFP by 13 percent, whereas it has come down in Punjab and Balochistan respectively by 9 and 10 percent. While some might say that Sindh and NWFP have outpaced the other two provinces in the race for bribery, many would maintain that governments in Lahore and Quetta deserve to be patted on the back for the achievement. There is a need on their part to further reduce corruption in departments with seedy reputations, including police and PWD. TI has also declared the NRO as being against the fundamental rights of the citizens and in negation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). The NRO is discriminatory, as it provides benefits only to a particular section of politicians and bureaucrats. In a situation where there is an independent judiciary in the country, there is a need on the part of those who claim they were being unjustly prosecuted to seek legal remedy in the courts instead of taking shelter under the NRO. While Information Minister Kaira holds that the NRO was promulgated before the emergency and thus does not need to be brought before the National Assembly for ratification, a number of legal experts differ with him. In case the Ordinance is put up before Parliament it will be opposed by the PML(N) and many other parties. There is a need to avoid divisiveness to strengthen the system. The PPP would therefore do well to revise its stand on the NRO. The NRO provides protection to parliamentarians from arrest under a check that has not been put into place despite the passage of a year and a half: the formation of a Special Parliamentary Committee on Ethics or Special Committee of the Provincial Assembly on Ethics to review the material provided by police. The NRO is thus being misused and needs to be struck down.