In a way, one does not need the Transparency International to tell us that there is corruption in this country. That this society has been plagued by the monster of corruption is something that we have known ever since we got our independence. How we have been ruined and destabilised by the ways of the corrupt is acknowledged, almost unashamedly, and by all sections of society.
Corruption is a theme that any columnist or citizen's conversation can pick up, and it will be relevant. I have realised that it is a theme that connects easily to anything else. Talk to a citizen about power crisis in the country, and he will instantly tell you how Wapda and KESC have failed the people. And in the same breath he will explain how corruption is the cause.
Talk to a citizen about the Atta shortage or its rising prices or the sugar crisis and citizens will have ready stories to argue that corruption is the cause. Corruption has many faces. Concealed, disguised, masked, powdered, painted and even beautified. There are so many faces that the corrupt wear, and each countenance more deceptive than imaginable.
I am thinking of the hypocrisy of the corrupt and the scheming styles they assume and the image building they do, and I daresay how they manipulate and manoeuvre even media and its related forms. (Institutions and platforms). Seminars and workshops are other options they resort to.
It is important to note that on 7th December 2007, the Pakistani media reported that "the Global Corruption Barometer 2007 survey report released by Transparency International says that people in Pakistan who paid bribes for obtaining services in 2007 increased to over 30 percent from 15 percent in 2006, a 100 percent increase".
This new report places Pakistan among the top ten countries which are most affected by bribery, the other countries being Albania, Cambodia, Cameroon, Macedonia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania and Senegal. Interestingly none of the Saarc countries figure here. Except Pakistan. There is something for us to contemplate here.
The survey indicates that "the most corrupt among the 14 sectors surveyed are police (4.3 - on a scale with 5 indicating most corrupt and 1 meaning not corrupt), taxation (4.1) and utilities departments, political parties, and registry and permit services (3.9), education (3.0), military (3.2) and media (3.2) with religious groups being the least corrupt (2.7).
According to the survey, the general public the world over believes that "political parties, parliament, police and judicial -legal system are the most corrupt institutions in their societies." It is worrying that more than half the citizens polled around the world expect the level of corruption to increase to some degree over the next three years.
The most improved sectors vis-à-vis anti-corruption efforts in the last year were considered to be the judiciary and the media and the sectors where corruption increased were taxation and the NGOs.
The 9th of December 2007 was an International Anti-Corruption Day and there were newspaper supplements that were published by major dailies where it was emphasised that "Your No counts" in fighting corruption. The supplements were sponsored by the National Accountability Bureau and UNODC and their joint advertisement carried photographs of four children. One small boy said "I deserve better education," another said "I deserve better health care," the third child said "I deserve clean water" and the fourth child said that "I deserve a brighter future." The Faysal Bank said that corruption is the enemy of progress and that corruption-free Pakistan is our goal, the while Standard Chartered Bank reaffirmed its resolve for a corruption-free world.
And NAB Chairman Nawid Ahsan in his article on "Towards a corruption-free society in Pakistan," refers to Abdur Rehman Ibne Khaldun to say that "civilisations inevitably collapse from within as a result of corruption, moral decadence and disintegration of the institutions of accountability."
We will return to this theme again and again, obviously. But let me end here with what a colleague of mine wonders about. He says that with all this resolve and rhetoric that we have about fighting corruption and saying no, the results are disappointing.

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There are many themes disturbing me this time also. Perhaps there is nothing unusual when I say this.
I am suddenly reminded of the poet Munir Niazi whose couplet reads thus
"Tum Ney Tau Munir Apni Tabiat Hi Bana Lee Hay
Jis Haal Mein Bhi Rehna Uktai Huey Rehna"
Now take this report that appeared in Dawn on the front page on 11th December (yesterday) The headline read: "official poll results ready." It says that the MMA minus the Jamaat-e-Islami is expected to hold the balance in the 8th January 2008 polls that are estimated to throw up a "largely hung house". The London datelined report says that the PPP and PML-N sources believe (in London) that the estimates, drawn up by intelligence agencies this month, have given PML-Q 115 seats, PPP (90), MMA (45), PML-N (40), MQM (20), and ANP (12), in a house of 342.
And there is an official plan to rig the polls, unnamed sources in the report said. Obviously, there are questions related to the extent of credibility that do arise.
On 10th December 2007 was held the International Human Rights Day and in Pakistan civil society activists (from various professions) observed it as a "black day" to protest against the imposition of the state of emergency and the promulgation of the Provisional Constitutional Order" in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and elsewhere.
The state of emergency is scheduled to be lifted on 15th December (that is on Saturday) and 16th December 2007 will be yet another time to remember the East Pakistan tragedy.
And on the election, front for while Pakistan Muslim League-N is in the elections, and out of the All Parties Democratic Movement, party symbols have been given, and manifestoes released, the big question that some citizens are persevering with is that of the turn-out of the voters. What kind of interest are people showing at this stage? That is something to keep in mind. Or will the real street level or a higher degree of interest be witnessed after Eid-ul-Azha holiday season, which begins next week? What has been the impact of all that has happened on the political front in the last few weeks? Does it motivate the ordinary people to go out and vote?
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And finally Mr Doubt had this question about the stock exchanges when he said: Are stockbrokers so-called because they sell you stock that makes you broke?