Wednesday, January 26, 2022
#Pakistan - Pakistan: Is PM Khan's government more corrupt than previous administrations?
Transparency International has ranked Pakistan 140th out of 180 countries in its latest Corruption Perceptions Index report. This deals a blow to Imran Khan, whose party promised to eradicate corruption from the country.
The perception of corruption in Pakistan has worsened since Imran Khan came to power in 2018, according to Transparency International (TI).
In its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021, the Berlin-based watchdog ranked the South Asian country 140th out of 180 countries, with 180th being the most corrupt country in the world.
Pakistan was ranked 124th in 2020, 120th in 2019, and 117th in 2018.
TI has been compiling the corruption index since 1995. It is based on 13 different sources that depict perceptions of corruption within the public sector, including experts and business people.
The sources also include the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and private risk and consulting firms.
According to the CPI 2021, the "deteriorating rule of law" and "state capture" are the main reasons behind a significant rise of corruption in Pakistan.
Before coming to power in 2018, Khan, a populist politician, regularly cited TI's CPI as an "evidence" to malign his political opponents, mainly former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Khan's politics continue to revolve around punishing "corrupt politicians," who, according to him, are impeding Pakistan's progress.
Tables have turned
But the corruption perception has become starker since Khan took the reins. Thus, the latest TI report presents a chance for opposition leaders to mock Khan.
Shehbaz Sharif, opposition leader in the National Assembly (Pakistan's lower house of parliament), said in a tweet that Khan's government "has broken all records of corruption in the last 20 years," adding that when his brother Nawaz was in power, corruption had decreased in the country.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former prime minister associated with the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, told DW that corruption is all-time high under Khan's government.
He dubbed it "unprecedented" in Pakistan's history.
Zulfiqar Ali Bader, a spokesperson for the Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said the prime minister must step down after the publication of the CPI report.
But Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry played down the seriousness of the issue and told DW that Pakistan's low CPI score was not due to financial corruption in the country. Still he admitted, "Yes, we need reforms in the areas of the rule of law and state capture as mentioned in the report."Why is corruption increasing in Pakistan? Analysts cite a myriad of reasons behind rising corruption in Pakistan. "Transparency International makes a strong case that one can't divorce anti-corruption issues from the broader issue of democracy. When democracy takes a hit, anti-corruption efforts struggle because it's in strong and robust democracies where you can most expect to see transparency and probity," Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, told DW. "Pakistan's democratic backsliding, in effect for quite some time, has constrained anti-corruption," he added. Elaborating on the issue of democratic backsliding, Amber Shamsi, a political analyst and journalist, said the CPI reflects the perceptions related to human rights violations, attacks on journalists and deteriorating rule of law in the country. "There is no across-the-board accountability in Pakistan. Dozens of opposition figures were accused of corruption and put behind bars, but they have not been prosecuted," she told DW. Learning the hard way Regardless, the Transparency International report has done a lot of damage to PM Khan's reputation as an "anti-graft crusader." Experts say it could even hurt him in the 2023 general elections. "Khan's political identity is interwoven with the anti-corruption issue. The new TI report, in that regard, is problematic," according to Kugelman. "The premier and his allies will seek to shrug off the TI rankings as an anomaly, or as a foreign conspiracy to malign Pakistan. In an ideal world, though, he and his party allies would introspect on the implications of these rankings. They say a lot not just about Pakistan's corruption challenge, but also about the democratic backsliding that exacerbates the corruption challenge," he added. Khan's failure to revive the country's economy is already causing him political problems. Along with tax increases and higher energy prices, Pakistanis are also facing rising inflation, as the purchasing power of the rupee decreases. Pakistan's inflation rate hit 11.5% last November. The rupee also is also trading at record lows against the dollar. "Khan's government has failed to deliver. There is no rule of the law [in the country], and he is suppressing opposition parties and curbing civil freedoms," said former PM Abbasi. But Kugelman says there are no quick fixes to Pakistan's economic problems.
https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-is-pm-khans-government-more-corrupt-than-previous-administrations/a-60559804"Khan may have a genuine commitment to combat corruption, but the sheer scale of the problem — not to mention the power of vested interests that don't want a change in the status quo — underscores that this continues to be an uphill battle. Anti-corruption is one of those goals that is so much easier to envision when in the opposition than inside the system. Khan has learned that the hard way," he said.
#Pakistan - Prime Minister Imran Khan on the warpath
It is evident that he is under a lot of pressure as public discontent grows over the rising cost of living and the government fails to deliver on its promises to bring about change. The argument about inflation being entirely driven by external factors is not convincing. There is no denial of global linkages but misgovernance and flawed economic policies have also been the reason for spiralling commodity prices in the country. Blaming mafias and cartels for the problem cannot satisfy the people who are directly affected by the galloping food prices.
The prime minister appears to be fighting a losing battle.
It has cost the ruling party hugely in terms of political support. The upset in the KP local bodies’ elections is indicative of the party’s shrinking political base. It has brought to the surface the widening rift within party ranks. The move to reorganise the party in the midst of the crisis has added to the confusion at a time when the opposition has stepped up its campaign to bring down the government.
Speculations about a deal between the security establishment and the opposition groups seem to have increased the government’s worries. The widespread rumours about a possible deal seem to have triggered the PM’s angst. His reference to the speculations indicated his unease. For a government which has been largely dependent on the security establishment for its survival such a possibility would obviously be disturbing. In Pakistani politics, such back room deals are not unusual. The growing confidence in the ranks of the opposition and the latter’s plan to march on Islamabad has given currency to the rumours that the security establishment has distanced itself from the government.
That could also mark the weakening of the hybrid power arrangement. Not surprisingly, the prime minister’s remarks that he could be more dangerous if ousted from power is seen by many as a threat to the opposition as well as a message to the establishment. But such a stance could also be seen as sign of weakness. That may lead to the unravelling of the fragile coalition. Such messaging could have a demoralising effect on the PTI. An authoritarian and irrational approach can harm his government more than the opposition’s campaign.
A refusal to interact with the opposition on even critical national issues has weakened the democratic process in the country. There is little realisation on the prime minister’s part that a weakened system has made his government more vulnerable. The prime minister might call himself a democratically elected leader, but a demonstration of respect for parliament is still lacking, while contempt for elected representatives was more strongly evident in his remarks.
It has been asked why the prime minister is not ready to interact with the leader of the opposition whom he calls a criminal, but is willing to talk with terrorist groups like the TTP, who have now called off the ceasefire and stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces. Of late, the group has carried out terrorist attacks in Islamabad and other places. Confronting the opposition and having a policy of appeasement towards outlawed militant groups has created a very dangerous situation for the democratic process in the country.
Pakistani PM's Attempt For Afghan Fund Faces Backlashes Over Fears Of Sanctions
This is the first time the State Bank of Pakistan has stood against the government's relief fund plan for Afghanistan since legislation was tabled towards making it more independent, said a report.The Imran Khan government's recent bid to raise funds for the new rulers in Kabul has been shot down by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) amid fears that financing of the Taliban regime could invite international sanctions, according to a media report. Pakistan's Finance Ministry has been advised by the SBP against domestic and foreign donations to the government of Afghanistan Relief Fund that funnelling funds to the Afghan government without involving "international organizations of repute" could result in sanctions from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international anti-money laundering and terror finance watchdog, reported Asia Times. FATF is set to review Pakistan's performance on various metrics next month. Notably, Pakistan has been on the Paris-based watchdog's "grey list" since June 2018. So far, two key FATF action items have not been met by Pakistan which are necessary to get the country removed from the grey list. It includes the prosecution and confiscation of assets of UN-designated terrorists. This is the first time that Pakistan's autonomous central bank SBP has stood against the government's relief fund plan since legislation was tabled towards making it more independent, said Asia Times. Pakistan's central bank is undergoing some autonomy-enhancing reforms under a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $6 billion extended fund facility. The SBP in late December was approached by the Pakistan government through its finance division to open a collection account for its Afghanistan Relief Fund. It proposed that disbursements from the new fund to the Taliban could be made through banking channels. However, the SBP countered that the transfer of funds directly to Afghanistan "through banking channels could be challenging". The central bank proposed that instead of that disbursement from the fund could be made through international relief organizations or extended by the government as "in-kind" support to help Afghans who now face acute food shortages, according to Asia Times. The SBP also conveyed to the government that opening fund accounts at overseas bank branches would require the authorization of foreign regulatory bodies, a time-consuming and cumbersome process - particularly in light of Pakistan's FATF "grey list" designation. The Imran Khan government has continuously tried to soften the world's stance on the Taliban and has urged countries to recognise the new government in Kabul. But the countries have declined to give formal recognition.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pakistan-pm-imran-khans-attempt-for-afghanistan-relief-fund-faces-backlashes-over-fears-of-fatf-sanctions-2731050