Transparency International recently released a corruption perception index for 145 countries around the world, placing Pakistan much nearer to the bottom than any self-respecting Pakistani would have fancied.

This was subsequently reported in The News - all print editions in Pakistan and Europe as well as its website. That report was read by hundreds of thousands, if not millions. For the next couple of days The News offices around the world were nearly deluged by phone calls and curious inquiries.

Majority of the callers were angered by this report, saying why The News has criticised Pakistan. Every time they open the paper or its website, they see it brimming with reports that shame them, demoralise them.

We spent the next couple of days trying to describe to a number of The News concerned readers the difference between criticism for the sake of criticism and constructive criticism.

It is criticism for the sake of criticism which demoralises a nation, a people. Constructive criticism, on the other hand, is meant to wake up the people so that they coax those who sit at the helm of affairs to drop the bad practises and set the house in order - in other words, do their job.

Constructive criticism by the national newspapers is meant to inform the readers that ‘something is wrong in the state of Denmark’ and that needs to be set right - in line with the adage that goes: ‘voice of the people is the voice of God’.

Why do they have to suffer knowing that Pakistan is not faring well on confronting the corruption that is rampant in the society and is eating out its moral fibre? Because it is their society. It is the people who make up the society. It is awareness that brings changes.

Shall we then not expect to be criticised when we have done something wrong? How do we expect to hold the tongues set wagging around the world?
If Transparency International, an international organisation of repute, perceives Pakistan to be the ‘15th most corrupt nation’, why that should not be known by the people of Pakistan.

A year or two ago when the same organisation had placed Pakistan on or around number 30, so much hooha was made about it.

It showed indeed that Pakistan had improved its business and governance practices from the days of a self-exiled two-time former prime minister in whose days Pakistan had suffered the ignominy of figuring among the three most corrupt nations.

Then Transparency International was nearly billed as a saint. Promises were made to do even better in future. This year’s report shows that those promises have been broken. People’s confidence in the managers of their country and institutions has been betrayed. That is why we have slipped down a fifteen places in this year’s Transparency International Corruption Perception Index.

Bangladesh, once East Pakistan, and Haiti shared the dubious honour of being the most corrupt nations, according to the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2004. Nigeria kept the third most corrupt country status.

With a CPI score of 2.1 and confidence rating of 1.6 to 2.6, Pakistan shared the bracket with Cameron, Iraq and Kenya.

The United Kingdom was perceived as the 11th least corrupt country in a list topped by Finland which was followed by New Zealand and Denmark.
The sole superpower USA was rated as the 19th least corrupt country. India was ranked as the 57th most corrupt country, sharing the bracket with Nepal and Russia.

Singapore, at number 5, was the only non-western country among the 10 least corrupt nations.

Hong Kong, at number 16, was the only other place from Asia ranked among the top 20 least corrupt nations.

Oman at 29 trailed by UAE at 30 were the highest entries from among the Muslim nations followed by Bahrain at 34, Jordan at 37, Qatar at 38, Malaysia at 39 and Kuwait at 44.

Saudi Arabia was at 72. China at 70. Turkey at 81 stood 10 places up from India. Iran was rated as the 88th least corrupt or 59th most corrupt country.
In the preamble to its corruption perception index, Transparency International said that corruption was rampant in 60 countries where the public sector was plagued by bribery.

According to Transparency International estimates the amount lost due to bribery in government procurement is a whopping $400 billion per year worldwide.

There’s always a next time, and in Pakistan, the government needs to do more to ensure next time our heads don’t hang low in shame.