Islamabad, May 7 (IANS): At a time when both ruling and opposition parties criticise each other over allegations of corruption against the backdrop of the leaked Panama Papers, a report said 64 percent of Pakistanis believe corruption prevails in government departments.

The Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), a non-governmental organisation, asked 6,030 people in Pakistan whether or not they had interacted with any of the 25 government departments over the past six months.

The departments included education, health, Wapda, Sui Gas, police, courts, revenue, Election Commission of Pakistan, irrigation, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Nadra, municipality, railways, PIA and Income Tax.

As many 3,971 people responded in affirmative. When asked about their perception of corruption levels in those departments, nearly two-thirds of the respondents said corruption levels in government departments were either very high or somewhat high.

As many as 72 percent of men said corruption prevails in government departments. At least 54 percent women shared similar views.

Fafen will release detailed socio-political profiles in July. However, corruption was selected as the theme for the first public release in view of the ongoing public debate on the issue against the backdrop of the leaked Panama Papers.