By Shahzad Ali
In a security state like Pakistan, Defence budget wields significant importance to equate means with the end. The second budget presented by the current government on June 3 of this year has proposed to allocate Rs. 700.2 billion for the 2014-15 fiscal year compared with Rs. 627.2 billion allocated last year. There has been an increment of 11 per cent in the current defence budget as compared to the last one.
Weeks before the announcement of the budget, the Ministry of Defence had called for an increase in budget allocation for armed forces. Out of the Rs.627 billion defence budget of the last year, 43 per cent had been spent on employees-related expenses, 26 per cent on operations and 10 per cent on civil works. The remaining 21 per cent went to servicing and maintenance of equipment. These facts provided by the ministry of defence indicate that only 26 per cent of the defence budget was spent on operations. For professional armed forces of a country entangled by existential threat from India and border security issues, a small amount of money, comparably, spent on operations supplements an increase in defence budget.
Being an existential threat to Pakistan’s territorial integrity, India’s defence expenditure cannot be seen in cannot be seen in isolation. There has remained a palpable difference between the defence expenditures of India and Pakistan with India spending huge sum on its defence. India spent about USD 37 billion on its armed forces as compared to Pakistan’s defence budget of USD 6.27 billion. Not only is this existing huge difference between the defence expenditures of the two countries but India increasing its defence allocation multiply with each passing year also. However, it doesn’t mean that Pakistan should follow the course and engage itself in an ambitious arms race but it should not ignore the Indian developments at the expense of its sacrosanct core national interests.
Besides external security threats, Pakistan has been facing gruesome internal security challenges in the face of terrorism and insurgency. Since 2001 when Pakistan became a part of US-led War on Terror Pakistan has been suffering huge losses both in terms of money and lives. Traditionally, Pakistan’s army has remained border-oriented but after the beginning of war on terror it has been subjected to an irregular warfare. However, despite its unaccustomed orientation to confront irregular warfare tactics, Pakistan’s armed forces have been resolute and successful in neutralising the threat posed by terrorists. It is high time that the armed forces should be more trained and equipped to successfully uproot the menace of terrorism. Against this backdrop, an increase in defence expenditures seems indispensable so that more percentage of the defence budget can be allocated to Operations.
