Fawad says absence of rule of law, state capture factors behind Pakistan's low ranking on corruption perception index

Islamabad: Pakistan's low ranking on Transparency International's corruption perception index was due to the absence of rule of law in the country and state capture, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chauhdry Fawad Hussain said on Tuesday. 

"The TI's report released by the international organisation earlier today isn’t complete as it only shows the scores," he said while addressing a press conference after the federal cabinet's meeting. Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the meeting.

Referring to Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI 2021), in which Pakistan's rank has fallen 16 places to 140 from 124 out of 180 countries, Fawad said the ranking has been assigned to the country not because of corruption but because of the absence of rule of law and state capture. 

State capture is a type of systemic political corruption in which private interests significantly influence a state's decision-making processes to their own advantage.

"All the agencies compiling the report maintained Pakistan's ranking; however, only the Economic Intelligence Unit reduced the score [of Pakistan]," he said.

Telling about other decisions of the cabinet meeting, the minister said the next general elections will be held on the basis of a new census. 

"For the purpose, the government has approved a budget of Rs5 billion," Fawad said, adding that the results of the pilot survey for Census 2022 will be released by May this year, while the entire process will be completed by the end of 2022.

"Once the results of the pilot survey are in, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will begin the delimitation of the constituencies for the next general elections," he said. 

-- Smart lockdown --

The minister said the federal cabinet also discussed the COVID-19 situation in the country and it was informed that despite a spike in the coronavirus cases, only about 1.5% of the infected population required hospitalisation.

"This shows that our health system is not overburdened with this wave of the pandemic," the federal minister said. 

Fawad further said that Prime Minister Imran Khan's successful policy of imposing smart lockdowns instead of shutting down the economy is once again being implemented across the country to deal with the current wave. 

"Our policy of a smart lockdown, as opposed to a complete one, is being acknowledged across the globe, and even developed countries like the United Kingdom has decided to implement it," Fawad said.