This investigation, the third in a series examining Pakistan’s elite capture, documents how the administrative state operates not as a public service but as a gatekeeping mechanism. Through analysis of government procedures, service delivery data, regulatory frameworks, and testimony from citizens and officials, a consistent pattern emerges: Pakistan’s bureaucracy functions as an enforcement arm of oligarchic control, where access to basic services, property rights, business licenses, and justice itself depends not on law or entitlement but on power, connections, and wealth.
The numbers tell the story with brutal clarity. Pakistan ranks 108th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, 126th in the Corruption Perceptions Index, and according to Transparency International Pakistan’s 2023 National Corruption Perception Survey, 38% of citizens who interacted with government departments reported paying bribes. But these aggregate statistics obscure the operational reality: the system is not broken. It is working exactly as designed.
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