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Lahore: Pakistan has, in recent decades, become rather accustomed to finding itself at the bottom of various lists - including those on statistics reflecting the health of children.
As such, the fact that it has been found to be the 7th most corrupt country in the world, according to the Global Corruption Barometer released in Berlin this week by Transparency International, does not come as a particular shock.
Pakistan has, for many years, struggled to avoid prominent mention on the list, and after showing heartening signs during the early part of the decade - when it was able to open up the gap with nations such as Nigeria which consistently rank high in terms of corruption levels - it now seems to be slipping again.
But while political corruption at all levels, and the alleged amassing of wealth by key leaders, have remained in the limelight, and indeed are now once more the focus of political debate as elections draw nearer, the insidiously damaging effect of corruption at the lower levels, on people's lives, is less well known.
"The facts of life in Pakistan are that you cannot beat the system. You can only survive within it, or it defeats you," said Rana Irshad Khan, 40, an accountant.
Bribe culture
Khan pointed out that having a faulty phone line repaired, having a driving licence made or getting a case registered with police were "all impossible" unless bribes were paid.
Indeed, Transparency International notes that in many of the most corrupt nations, the police is often rated as the most corrupt department.
This finding has also been borne out in Pakistan by earlier studies and, across the country, almost everyone has a story to tell of an encounter with police.
"My car, worth about five lakh rupees, was stolen last month. In the unsuccessful attempt to recover it, I paid out at least another 20,000 rupees to police as bribes, adding to my losses," said Aziz Ahmad, 35, a Rawalpindi-based trader.
"We factor in an amount to be paid out as bribes every month in our household budget, usually the small amounts that go to the municipal cleaners, or the electricity repairmen, to take care of minor problems in and around the house," complained a housewife.
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