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Transparency says Musharraf regime more corrupt than BB, Nawaz govts
By Khalid Hasan
Daily Times, September 19, 2006

NEW YORK: The present government is more corrupt than the two earlier governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, according to a survey conducted by the Pakistan chapter of Transparency International.

The corruption watchdog’s 2006 report on Pakistan, based on a sample of 4,000 urban and semi-urban citizens in all four provinces, only 10 percent of those questioned said that the first Nawaz Sharif government (1990-93) was corrupt, but 34 percent thought the second (1996-99) was corrupt.

While assessing the Benazir Bhutto government in its first term (1988-90), only 8 percent saw it as corrupt, but her second term in office (1993-96) was seen as corrupt by 48 percent of those sampled.

Asked about the present government, 33 percent of the respondents thought that it was corrupt in 1999-2002, but when asked to assess the period 2002-06, more than 67 percent thought it was corrupt.

Questioned about corruption in government departments, the respondents were of the opinion that in per capital terms, citizens had to pay higher bribes to customs, followed by the land department, judiciary, taxation, banking, power, education, health, police and railways.

The causes of corruption were identified as low salaries, discretionary powers, influential people, lack of transparency, lack of choice and monopolies, red tape and shortages in demand and supply.

Asked as to which were the most corrupt sectors in the country, 64 percent named police, followed by power, judiciary, land, taxation, custom, health, education, railway and banking.