Corruption all around

The common man has no idea about the quantum of corruption in Pakistan. That's because he does not come in contact with corrupt officials. Usually there is an agent between the corrupt official and the citizen. The broker charges a fee for filling the simplest of forms (because the citizen is illiterate). The fee includes the money to be paid to those who work inside the government department. But the common man also knows that governemnt employees are corrupt because they're poorly paid. When a man is caught by the traffic police for going through a red light, the matter is solved easily by paying the cop a hundred rupees. In criminal cases, the police are paid to make mistakes in the First Information Reports. These errors work in favour of the criminal. Mostly the police are former crooks themselves and often they spend their spare time indulging in robberies. Another department where corruption is rampant is the Customs. Even if you're an honest importer, you have to pay the customs appraiser to approve your documents to avoid paying demurrage. So it boils down to this: you have to be corrupt if you want to progress. Even in private companies, there is a lot of corruption. The purchase officer, usually a trusted lieutenant of the owner, takes a commission (usually 10%) of all bills, even though he is paid much more than his government counterpart. So it's not true that only the poorly paid civil servants indulge in corruption.