ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has improved by nine points, said National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry quoting the latest report of the Transparency International (TI) while chairing a meeting at the NAB Headquarters on Tuesday. The NAB chairman said that Pakistan was being considered as a role model in South Asia in its efforts against corruption. He gave NAB credit for the improvement in the score. “Besides the TI, other independent national and International watchdogs such as the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PLIDAT) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have also appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in eradication of corruption.” He said that the NAB was committed to making Pakistan a corruption-free country. “The NAB is focusing on a three-pronged approach of awareness, prevention and enforcement to eradicate corruption from the country. He directed all NAB officers to work hard for eradication of corruption by adopting zero tolerance policy. The chairman said that NAB was working on efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases. The NAB has introduced a system of combine investigation team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, he added. The bureau, he said, was involving all stakeholder, especially youth, to make them aware about the ill-effects of corruption at an early age. “More than 42,000 character building societies (CBS) have been set up at universities / colleges. We have set a target to establish 50,000 character building societies in the current year.” Qamar Zaman said that all regional bureaus of the NAB were playing their role in contributing towards the overall performance of the bureau. He directed all officers to adopt and demonstrate absolute fairness and transparency while discharging their official duties. Published in Daily Times, August 9th 2017.