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No change in India-specific defence spending likely By Shahzad Raza
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas did have any doubt that the 35 per cent increase in Indian defence budget is Pakistan-specific. - APP/File photo Low revenue forced govt to cut uplift budget: report ISLAMABAD: Where counter-insurgency operations require a lot of finances, the army says it cannot afford to have India-specific defence budget curtailed. ‘If you are suggesting that we should take something out of here and put it in another box that would not be a wise strategy. War on terror does require resources, but it should not be at the cost of something else,’ military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told DawnNews. Pakistan usually makes its defence allocations with the objective of maintaining certain conventional parity with India. In February this year, the Indian government made an interim 35 per cent increase of $26.5 billion in its defence budget. Gen Athar Abbas did have any doubt that the increase in Indian defence budget is Pakistan-specific. ‘Take the example of (India’s) offensive aircraft, take the example of Awacs, take the example of air-to-air refuelling system. Then tank division and mechanised forces and their latest offensive doctrine of cold start strategy. All these things are Pakistan specific,’ he observed. The PPP government will present its second budget to the National Assembly on June 13. In a departure from the usual practice, last year the government presented some details of the defence budget in the assembly. It originally allocated Rs297 billion for defence and raised it to Rs310 billion. Sources in the finance ministry said the defence allocations for the next financial year might go up to Rs342 billion. Meanwhile, Dr Pervez Hoodhbouy of Quaid-i-Azam University has warned the government against following India in increasing the defence budget. ‘Our threat comes from the people within Pakistan. Our threat is inherent. We should not spend it on buying more aircraft, more tanks or more submarines,’ he suggests. Zafarullah Khan, another Islamabad-based analyst, proposes that paradigm of arms race between India and Pakistan must be re-examined. DAWN: Monday, 08 Jun, 2009 |
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