CORRUPTION IS A BIG MENACE IN PAKISTAN

By: Baloch, Irfan Ali

SYNOPSIS:
1. Introduction
2. Definition of Corruption
3. Types of Corruption
a) Monetary corruption
b) Non-monetary Corruption
c) Other types
4. How it is Menace in Pakistan
a) Poverty and unemployment
b) Social crimes
c) Inequality
d) Moral decay
e) Economic downfall
f) Severe damage of institutions
g) Frustration
5. Causes of the menace of Corruption in Pakistan
a) Ineffective accountability
b) Lack of transparency
c) Discretionary powers
d) Poor management system
e) Illiteracy
f) Lack of awareness
6. Measures to curb the Threat of Corruption
a) Effective accountability
b) Rule of law
c) Sufficient wages
d) Independence of regularity authorities
e) Independent appointment Commissions
f) Free media and social awareness
g) Constitutional policy
7. Conclusion
Essay:
Corruption is an evil in a society that has played havoc and has been
hurdle in the socio-economic-political development of Pakistan. According
Essay : Corruption is a big Menace in
PakistanBaloch, Irfan Ali

to the recent survey of Transparency International, Pakistan has been

ranked 34th among the most corrupt countries of the world. This manifests
that corruption is deeply rooted in the veins of the country. In its various
forms, it is a threat of serious concern prevailing in the country giving rise
to hazardous social evils like poverty, unemployment and inequality, as
well as moral and substantial economic downfall. The mainsprings of this
serious peril are illiteracy, ineffective accountability, lack of transparency,
discretionary powers and lack of awareness. Though it is an arduous job to
exterminate this evil in the country, yet it can be curbed by taking
remedial measures like providing proper education to the masses,
maintaining effective accountability, implementing rule of law, allocating
sufficient wages, imparting technical education and delivering social and
religious awareness to the common masses.
The misuse of entrusted power for ones private gains defines corruption.
It is any illegal, immoral or amoral or unethical practice regarding
economic, political and social affairs. The corrupt people, agencies, and
organizations take illegal advantages by abusing their power, position and
authority.
The illegal advantage is taken in two main forms of corruption i.e.
monetary and non-monetary. Monetary corruption takes into account the
misuse of ones authority to acquire money. The monetary benefits like
Bribery and kickbacks are the tools to gain money in this regard. This type
of corruption is widespread in the society as it fulfills the peoples needs
and greed. On the other hand, non-monetary corruption is popular among
elite class, since they do not need money but they use their power and
position to get their work done. For this they indulge in favoritism and
nepotism.
Apart from monetary and non monetary types, corruption prevails in other
types like sporadic, systemic, political (grand) and moral corruption.
Sporadic corruption is an individual corruption and it does not cause harm
to the politics and economy of a country as a whole. Systemic corruption
is generally encompasses social, political and economic sectors. Political
Essay : Corruption is a big Menace in
PakistanBaloch, Irfan Ali

corruption is the misuse of authority by politicians in the form of nepotism

or black money. Grand corruption is synonymously used with political
corruption because it involves corruption in bulk. Finally moral corruption
involves the decay of morality due to peoples materialistic nature.
Corruption in Pakistan has eaten up the inner of common people
belonging to all walks, sections, areas, and classes in the country. Poverty
and unemployment are on the rampage in the society. Corruption has
created gap between the poor and the rich. Only few corrupt families in
Pakistan enjoy the greater portion of wealth while the rest of the
population has nothing to eat, wear and live. People in power and
authority misuse the funds allocated for development and improvement of
social life of the people. The nations wealth is miserably looted in a
haphazard manner. Consequently, this adversely affects the society since
it creates unemployment and poverty.
In addition, corruption breeds social crimes in the society. The evils like
poverty and unemployment compel people to set foot on the path of social
crimes like robbery, theft, extortion and exploitation. According to a
report, only in Karachi, above 30,000 snatch cases have been registered,
while the registered ones are countless. Moreover, fifty percent of those
cases have been reportedly committed by the young people. This clearly
demonstrates the prevailing of social evils. Thus corruption gives rise to
social crimes.
Besides, inequality is another evil bred up by corruption in Pakistan.
Corruption causes severe violation of basic human rights leading to social
unrest. The corrupt class enjoys the lions share in national wealth,
leaving nothing for state to fulfill the needs of the masses equally. The
manifestation of this inequality is what we see happening in the country
demonstrations, protests and suicides.
Furthermore, moral decay, another peril due to corruption in the society,
has horribly damaged the ethics of the people. People are denied their
basic rights, humanity no more exists, exploitation of the masses, are at
large in the society.
Essay : Corruption is a big Menace in
PakistanBaloch, Irfan Ali

Apart from moral decay, economic downfall, the major threat to the
country, is another malevolence caused by corruption. The growth of
economy has been seriously affected by corruption in a sense that only
20% of people are enjoying 80% of resources and 80% of people are
enjoying 20% of resources.

The corrupt leave nothing in national

Treasury, causing government to become economically lame. According to

a report, only one percent of the population pays taxes, out of 180
millions. The departments like police, judiciary, railway, and PEPCO have
fallen prey to this menace. Resultantly the government has fewer funds to
invest and trade.
Moreover, severe damage of institutions has been causes by corruption.
Nearly every department of Pakistan is rung with this menace. According
to transparency international report, the police department is leading
corrupt department followed by Judiciary. The other victims in this regard
include Railways, Postal, and Excise.
Last but not the least; frustration is the result of all other evils caused by
corruption. According to a report, nearly fifty percent of the suicides have
been committed by the young due to poverty and economic problems. This
is the evidence that in Pakistan people, especially the young, are
frustrated leading themselves to crimes and suicides. Only in 2008, 7000
suicides

were

reported,

majority

of

them

being

due

to

poverty,

unemployment and financial problems in Pakistan.

The devil of corruption is at large due to several factors. One of the major
causes is ineffective accountability of people in power. The lack of
accountability

promotes

corruption

rampantly.

Since,

any

organized

reliable anticorruption institution is not prevalent, so corrupt people feel

secure without check and balance. People of elite class and feudals try
their best to run off accountability to save their black money. Malpractice
is, therefore, in vogue.
Secondly,

lack

of

transparency

is

another

consequential

cause

of

corruption in the society. The corrupt people and departments show no

record of their illegal activities. They pay huge amount of money to the
Essay : Corruption is a big Menace in
PakistanBaloch, Irfan Ali

anticorruption and Audit departments so as to veil their irregularities.

Moreover, no organized transparency institution exists in the country that
may conduct transparency.
Thirdly,

discretionary

powers

of

Bureaucrats,

administrators,

and

politicians are another cause of corruption. These powers are highly

misused as unskilled people occupy responsible positions.
Fourthly, poor management system is another cause of corruption in the
society. The poor management of institutions has led them to devastation.
The lack of teachers in educational institutions, absence of expert doctors
in hospitals, mismanagement of time and work are the common routine in
the unfortunate institutions.
Fifthly, illiteracy is the prime cause of corruption, which is the main
problem being faced in Pakistan. The misery is that only 2% of GDP is
reserved for education. In his recent visit to Pakistan, the British Envoy to
Pakistan said that Pakistan could not develop until and unless it reserved
a good portion of GDP for its education. It is the illiteracy that breeds
corruption,

in

sense

that

illiterate

people

are

unaware

of

the

consequences of corruption both to a society and the country.

Finally, lack of awareness is another major cause of corruption.

Social

awareness seminars are hardly conducted to make people aware of the

social evils. Lack of social and religious gatherings is also the mainspring
of this corruption.
It is much easy to diagnose the problem of curbing the corruption,
analyzing it, and laying it out explicitly but it is more difficult to prescribe
as to what can be done about it. Notwithstanding mentioning or
diagnosing the hallmarks of corruption free policy, there is dire need to
pen down practical measures to remove or root out corruption from the
country.
The first remedial measure to curb corruption is effective accountability,
which is the dire need of the hour to curb this menace. The anticorruption
department should be made more effective or better to be reformulated
Essay : Corruption is a big Menace in
PakistanBaloch, Irfan Ali

staffing

talented young professionals who

should conduct effective

accountability of corrupt departments. Similarly, National Accountability

Bureau should be made corrupt free in order to ensure transparency and
accountability. Moreover, transparency should be maintained in every
department from lower clerk to head level.
The second measure is to ensure rule of law in the country. Strict laws
should be formed and implemented strictly to curb corruption. All the
public servants should be compelled by law to clear their deskwork within
a reasonable time. Failing which they should be punished with deduction
from their delay in work to get some benefit from people. Discretionary
powers of officials should be kept to the minimum and monitored by the
respectable citizens.

In this way, rule of law can be ensured to curb

corruption.
The third measure is to provide sufficient wages to the public servants so
that

they

may

fulfill

their

basic

necessities.

In

addition

to

that,

government should introduce such reforms and policies that reduces

poverty, and provides relief to the unemployed people. In this way, people
will not be compelled to have corruption.
The fourth measure to remove corruption is to ensure the independence of
regulatory authorities such as the banks, Securities and Stock Exchange
Commission of Pakistan in order to prevent major corruption in relation to
the financial operations of bank and stock exchanges. Loans must be
issued without politicians pressure.
The fifth measure to curb corruption is to let all appointments be made
through independent commission. No one should be allowed to take out
any posts, for whatever reason. The commission should appoint meritious
people through procedure similar to those followed for the appointments
of Supreme Court judges.
The sixth measure to root out this menace is the use of social media. In
this regard media should be made free to expose the real instances of
corruption and malpractices and act as pressure group. Through media,
Essay : Corruption is a big Menace in
PakistanBaloch, Irfan Ali

moral and religious awareness should be given to masses to deviate them

from malpractices.
Last but not the least; government should introduce the constitutional
policy because corruption is the most infallible symptom of constitutional
liberty. The first task, in this regard, is to control corruption at upper
level, the bottom level will itself be free of corruption.
In a nut shell, corruption is a curse prevailing in the society, which is the
hurdle in its progress and prosperity as it is evident that Pakistan stands
34th position in corrupt countries. Corruption has led the masses in the
country to frustration. The need of the hour is to understand the root
causes of this menace and escape corruption through policies and reforms
by the government and having a check and balance on the very issue. In
this way, this country could become a prosperous, developed and a
welfare state.
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Essay : Corruption is a big Menace in

PakistanBaloch, Irfan Ali