Corruption concerns

Despite progress in some areas, corruption remains a massive problem for the government and the country in general. At the same time, the public perception of the scale of corruption in the country is so bad — arguably worse than the reality — because the word has become a catch-all for the lazy ad-hominem attacks fired against ruling parties by opposition parties, often using numbers so exaggerated that they dwarf any logical estimates.

The National Corruption Perception Survey 2025, Transparency International's annual report, reflects this, while also offering some interesting insights, such as the fact that majorities of residents of each individual province feel their respective province is more corrupt than the federal government. Respondents also had slightly more faith in local governments than provincial governments. Another welcome statistic was that two-thirds of respondents did not feel they needed to pay a bribe to get access to a government service in the last year.

The police were ranked the most corrupt institution, while the institutions most in need of more oversight were the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency, a clear illustration of why corruption is such an endemic problem — our law enforcement and anti-corruption institutions are themselves corrupt to the core, or at least perceived to be so.

And while the government may claim the report is unfair, it was only a few weeks ago that the IMF — whose money keeps the government afloat — described Pakistan as an economy crippled by "elite capture", where policy is manipulated for private gain, costing up to 6.5% in GDP growth. At every level, it seems the system is rigged to hoard wealth and perpetuate injustice, even if it is to the benefit of no one.

Pakistan's problem is thus the age-old question: Who will watch the watchmen?