ISLAMABAD: On Friday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that Pakistan’s incumbent government, Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), rejected the 2019 annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for Transparency International.

The special assistant, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, called the report that exposed corruption in Pakistan in 2019 as biased. Transparency International should report the sources from which the data were obtained, she demanded.

Read More: Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index shows Pakistan more corrupt than before

According to the 2019 annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International, Pakistan’s ranking had previously fallen to 120 out of 180 countries with a poor score of 32 out of 100.

Pakistan ranked 33 out of 100 in the previous report, suggesting no progress could be observed in the eradication of state corruption. Pakistan’s ranking last year stood at 117, the same as in 2017, though its score had increased slightly to 33.

The CPI uses a 0-100 scale, in which 100 is very clean and 0 is highly corrupt. It is surprising that two-thirds of 180 countries scored below 50 while the average score is 43 out of 100.

According to Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) Chairman Sohail Muzaffar, the Transparency International Secretariat clarified that many countries have not performed well this year on clarification sought against lowering Pakistan’s score by one point on CPI 2019.

Mr Muzaffar said that, under his current chairman, the National Accountability Bureau performed much better and NAB was revived after taking various steps, including the introduction of the Combined Investigation Team (CIT) system, in order to have confidence in conducting inquiries or merit investigations.

NAB raised Rs153 billion from corrupt individuals and filed 530 reports, with an overall conviction ratio of about 70 per cent in accountability courts, the statement noted.

Transparency International further outlined proposals “to end corruption and restore confidence in politics” and claimed that “it is important to avoid political corruption opportunities and uphold the dignity of political systems.”