Every Pakistani knows corruption is everywhere, ubiquitous. Breaking the law, equals, few hundred rupees, or even just ten rupees, if the police officer is in good mood. It gets even better, if one is directly connected, or is himself/herself a bureaucrat, minister, president or the best of all, in higher ranks of military. With such connections or positions, law becomes a malleable entity, utilized to cater one's own whim, and serving no other purpose whatsoever.
We are going off track here. The point is corruption is from the bottom to the top, breaking the law is not a big deal, and nothing works, without a little bit of bribe. Bribe is the essence that moves the governmental, or for that matter any Pakistani institution, except of course, the very few private companies who care. However.
The troubling part is, corruption has been so rampant since decades, corruption has not only normalized but also become acceptable. For Lord sake, I know a guy, whose entire family ostracized him, for the reason he would not take bribes, albeit honesty being a social crime. His wife, children, brothers, cousins, sisters--you know name it, every body against the poor guy just because the guy was honorable enough to consider bribe and corruption evil. Although I am talking about one family here, I have seen--and a known fact among Pakistanis--people take government jobs just because of the easy under-the-table money. Even paying large sums to get government jobs, most sought after ones from police, customs and excise and taxation (thats where the big money lies).
There is no stopping. Bribes are fixed as percentages in different departments within different government agencies and ministries. Two percent at the procurement department, five percent standard in Sindh, and likes. Speed money starts the very second an interaction is made with a clerk for any form of government service, to the last person you will deal. Without bribe, anything you want to do--forget about it; the best million dollar advice, you would get. On the other side, with bribe, anything becomes possible from exporting Mars under the laws of rat to... I guess you catch my drift.
The worst part is corruption has become part of the society. Corruption, specifically, bribe is not a problem, in fact, for many quota filling Sindhis, Balochis, Punjabis, Pushtoons, and all others looking forward to serve the country through bureaucracy are seduced by the fact of easy large sums of money, and no body to stop them
Sure, everyone who do not have connections or are not in positions of power, talk bitterly about the corruption and how bad it is. But, the problem is, once that everyone gets a connection or is in position of power, that bitter talk vanishes into a pride. When the norm is every single moving thing around you taking brides, making hefty amount, without anyone doing, its hard to go against the current. One tries to become a good government officer, the pay isn't enough to feed even a pigeon, while a dishonest officer, with no laws or remorse, making so much as to feed the entire country, it is not a tough choice to make.
There are a lot of honest Pakistanis, who are talking about corruption in their free time, but not one of them thinks second when someone they know helps them cut a line.
We, Pakistanis know, you throw any Pakistan in any of the ministers, chiefs secretaries, senators, directors, no matter who the Pakistani is, he or she will get corrupted. That is a brute fact, that Pakistanis have come to accept. The entire machinery or the society is so corrupted in deceitfully accepting bribery, normalizing the act by perpetually continuing it, that bribe has become part of life.
Yes, bribe has become part of our Pakistani life, terrifying reality we must all NOT accept, yet we continue; because, unfortunately, every system, counter-measure, channel, process, individual, infrastructure is continuously engaged in bribe, that the very act of bribe has become common place, even though the retrospective perception may be negative, the future act of bribery remains accepted, with no end in sight, as it is part of life, that is how things work in Pakistan. Just give the bribe, get things done.
We are no more engaged in terminating bribery but rather in a race of whose bribery gets the job done.
I guess the Pakistani Paradox here is, how does a call from superior higher bribe taking officer, triumph over not only lower raking officer's bribe but also the legal fees in return for a cup of delicious tea (coming out of lower's pocket)?
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