Transparency International released the other day its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2017 ranking Pakistan at 117th place out of 180 countries, just one notch higher from the previous year, reflecting almost no change. The report has come at time the issue of corruption dominates the national scene as major ruling party figures and some from the opposition as well as bureaucrats and former army officers are facing charges of financial wrongdoing. Given the atmosphere, PML-N leader Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif immediately seized upon the report. According to him, TI's higher ranking proves the government has promoted transparency at every level, and that "it is an honour not only for the PML-N government but also for the 220 million people of Pakistan."His statement is rather baffling considering a related detail that shows the country stays on the same wrung of the transparency ladder where it has been before. Notably, the ranking is based on levels of public sector corruption as perceived by experts and businesspeople, using a scale of zero to 100 - zero being the highly corrupt countries and 100 most clean. On that scale Pakistan's score for 2017 is 32. The score in the previous year, too, was 32 which means there is no progress. It puts Pakistan in the company of worst performers of the world: sub-Saharan Africa countries where the average score is 32. Closer home in South Asia, India - with an unenviable reputation on this account - and Sri Lanka have much better comparative score with 40 and 38 points, respectively. Matching even these countries' standards would have been a matter of satisfaction.Pakistan has been lagging behind due to lack of will on the part of those who have had the power to bring about change. Until recently the anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountably Bureau (NAB), was firmly under government control, and prevented from holding to account the rich and powerful of the land. Now that NAB and the courts are actively pursuing various corruption cases they are constantly subjected to pressures and threats. Shahbaz Sharif himself did not take it kindly when NAB summoned him for an inquiry into alleged corrupt practices in 56 public limited companies established by his government. After the recent arrest, on NAB's orders, of a senior Punjab bureaucrat, former director general of LDA Ahad Cheema, for involvement in a mega land scam, his brothers in the bureaucracy rose in protest, observing a day-long strike. The CM, normally in the habit of resorting to severe punitive action against officials for any dereliction, took no disciplinary action in this case. This country will move up in the corruption perception index only if and when the culture of impunity ends.