ISLAMABAD:Pakistan has slipped further in Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI 2021), with the Opposition berating the Imran Khan-led government and demanding the prime minister’s resignation. Pakistan’s rank has fallen 16 places to 140 from 124 out of 180 countries, Transparency International’s report showed Tuesday. In CPI 2021, Pakistan scored 28 out of 100. “The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean,” the organisation said. Responding to the development, TI Pakistan Vice-Chair Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal said: “The absence of Rule of Law and State Capture has resulted in substantial low CPI 2021 score of Pakistan compared to CPI 2020, from 31/100 to 28/100 and rank from 124/180 to 140/180.” The vice-chair noted that there is no change in CPI 2021 Scores of India and Bangladesh from CPI 2020. Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International said: “Human rights are not simply a nice-to-have in the fight against corruption. Ensuring people can speak freely and work collectively to hold power to account is the only sustainable route to a corruption-free society.” The report comes hours after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s adviser on accountability and interior, Shahzad Akbar, stepped down from office on Monday.
