Public trust erodes as Pakistan police top corruption survey in 2025

Topping the National Corruption Perception Survey again in 2025 has reinforced the wider and deeply rooted perception that the police department is the most corrupt institution in Pakistan. About a quarter of people interviewed by Transparency International called the police the most corrupt government department.

Despite tall claims by Pakistani politicians about police reforms, the law enforcement department remains the most corrupt in the eyes of the public, owing to archaic regulations, extensive discretionary powers, a corrupt institutional culture, and political patronage, compounded by low pay and a lack of accountability.

Pakistan has failed to carry out reforms required to improve the image of police due to structural flaws, originating from the fact that the colonial 1861 Police Act is still in force, and the heavy influence of political parties and elites in the country, said Zoha Waseem, Assistant Professor in Criminology at the University of Warwick. “Pakistani citizens often fear the police, and those without the right connections risk bribery and blackmail during interactions with officers,” she said. “The politicisation of policing has typically referred to the influence of politicians and their elite allies on the internal affairs and workings of the police.”

The Transparency International report showed the Punjab Police Department was regarded as the most corrupt among all provinces in Pakistan by 34 percent of respondents. “Punjab Police has become the most corrupt institution in Pakistan. From bottom to top, the entire system is drowning in bribery, abuse of power, and brutality against innocent people. They destroy lives without hesitation or fear,” said Pakistani national Shamas Ali. People expressed concerns over the failure to fix the most basic law enforcement agency despite talks of reforms, expenditure worth billions and endless promises. “Now, imagine the place where very institutions meant to protect people are among the most corrupt,” said another Pakistani national, Bogar Khattak.

The huge corruption in the Police department has led to a significant deterioration of the rule of law. Yet, it remains entrenched in a kinship-based patron–client social and political culture, said Tariq Abbas Qureshi, Inspector General of Police in Pakistan. “It is demonstrated that police corruption in Pakistan is a politicised, institutionalised, and legitimised phenomenon. The police officers are paid low wages, and police operations are not adequately resourced. The combination of both leads to police corruption,” Qureshi said. “Without corruption, they think, they would not be able to run their police stations.” 

It may be the "worst" time in Pakistan's history in relation to police corruption, as many police officials who were not corrupt were forced to indulge in the malpractice thanks to the devaluation of Pakistan's currency, increasing inflation, and a perception of ‘taxes without services’, according to research conducted by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. “Police sometimes accept bribes from accused individuals who wish to avoid charges, ‘threaten’ victims to drop charges, particularly where the suspected perpetrator is an ‘influential’ individual, and ‘arbitrarily’ detain individuals to ‘extort bribes’ for their release,” it said. 

The presence of women police is meant to help female victims feel safer reporting crimes. However, women police personnel in Pakistan, too, are blamed for corruption and irregularities. A female police constable named Sakina Bibi was arrested in 2025 for demanding PKR 2.1 million from the complainant to avoid a staged encounter killing. “You keep hearing stories of corruption in the police, but female police officers are no less than anyone. They are not cautious or shy while taking bribes, but rather they are asked for bribes boldly,” said Pakistani scribe Aziz Ullah Khan. 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) earlier called Pakistan’s police the most abusive, corrupt, and unaccountable institutions of the state. “Non-registration of FIRs is also linked to corruption. Complainants, particularly those of lesser means, said that police refused to register their FIRs unless bribes were paid,” it said. “Corruption is inextricably linked with, if not justified by, financial constraints. The high incidence of corruption negatively impacts trust in the police.” Commenting on the lack of seriousness, Pakistani national Adil Ajmal said “The most Corrupt Police of Pakistan, from constables to Inspectors, everyone is busy in collecting Bribes, while SSP, DIG, CTO, everyone seems busy in making daily TikTok.”.