According to the Transparency International, Pakistan is advancing rapidly on the scale of corruption. The present bureaucracy is continuation of the administrative system devised by the British whose only aim was to extract maximum material benefit for their own country from their occupation of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent stopping only just short of provoking its population to the extent of rising in an uncontrollable rebellion. Thus the most corrupt bureaucrat from public point of view was the most pliable instrument of suppression.
Even the judiciary was also a part of the same exploitative system. Not long ago, judiciary was separated from the executive in our country but it appears that the old habits do die hard. We are lucky to have an independent and sincere Supreme Court now but the lower courts still remain blighted. For example, a few days ago a court clerk in Muzaffargarh, as reported in an Urdu national daily on 4 December, was caught red-handed accepting Rs 20,000 as bribe which raises the question whether a lower official can take such a bold step without the prior knowledge of someone higher up.
Almost all the powerful high officers here are the beneficiaries of WAPDA and pay little in bills. Therefore, whenever a case is brought by a private citizen against WAPDA, such as for removal of dangerous high tension overhead wires, it is always thrown out by the judicial officers. On the other hand, the WAPDA officials themselves are never convicted for abetting in theft of electricity which now stands at 40 percent. It is common knowledge here that a stay order can be obtained by anyone including corrupt government functionaries by talking suitably to a court official.
The common citizen can only hope that the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan will take notice of the deplorable conditions prevailing at the lower courts and establish a morality commission to inculcate a strong sense of integrity in the judicial arbitration authorities.
