Anti-corruption efforts[edit]

Prevention of Corruption Acts: 1947, 1950 and 1958[edit]

The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 implemented in the Dominion of Pakistan was enacted to make effective provisions for the prevention of bribery and corruption of public servants, particularly in the bureaucratic administration. The autonomous Princely State of Bahawalpur adopted its own version of the act, namely the Bahawalpur Prevention of Corruption Act, 1950.

In 1955, an accord was signed between Nawab Sadeq Mohammad Khan V and Lt Gen Ghulam Muhammad Malik which made the state of Bahawalpur a part of the province of West Pakistan. This geopolitical change meant that the original act needed amendments to include Bahawalpur and other regions which were originally left out of the act. Subsequently, in October 1958, an ordinance was passed to extend the act to the whole of the province of West Pakistan – this is known as the Prevention of Corruption Act (West Pakistan Extension) Ordinance, 1958. This ordinance extended the scope of the original to the districts of Karat, Kharan, Makranand Lasbela and also repealed the Bahawalpur Prevention of Corruption Act, 1950.

National Accountability Bureau Ordinance, 1999[edit]

On 16 November 1999, Ordinance XIX was passed which later came to be known as the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance. It called for the establishment of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as an autonomous federal institution building efforts to combat cases of corruption, financial crimes and economic terrorism in Pakistan. According to the ordinance, NAB was granted authority to launch investigations, conduct inquiries, and issue arrest warrants against individuals suspected in financial mismanagement, terrorism, corruption in private, state, defence and corporate sectors), and direct such cases to accountability courts. Individuals convicted under the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance are prohibited from holding political office for ten years.[35]

Provincial legislation against corruption[edit]

The provincial governments of Pakistan are responsible for legislations in their respective provinces and since 2013, there has been several legislative efforts against corruption, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Following is a list of recent anti-corruption legislations:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa anti-corruption legislations[edit]

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Bill was passed in the provincial assembly on 31 October 2013. It was enacted throughout the province by the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 4 November 2013 as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act, 2013.[36] The legislation makes way for provisions that add transparency to the various functions and departments of the government. It gives the citizens of the province the right to access any information or record held by a public body, except for the information that is sensitive to the security of the state.

Role of mainstream and social media[edit]

Mainstream media[edit]

Before 2002, the electronic media was entirely dominated by state-owned institutions like Pakistan Television Corporation and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. This monopoly was thwarted, when the Musharraf regime regulated the electronic media allowing for private television channels to be operated independently. Since the liberalisation of the electronic media in 2002, it has served as a major force in exposing corruption-related cases and scams.

Following are a few of the major corruption scams and scandals reported and exposed in the mainstream Pakistani media:

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