Pakistan’s defence budget 2010-11

Dr Huma Mir

Pakistan's economy is in a shambles. The trauma of terrorism, bad governance, poor economic planning, ineffective and corrupt revenue collection machinery, sky rocketing non-development government spending, a culture of tax evasion had a devastating impact on our economy. Our economic managers are struggling to meet our day to day fiscal needs under the dictates of our lenders since our leadership instead of improving revenue collection and cutting on non development spending decided to borrow from IMF to make up the budgetary shortfalls. Budget making in such environments could not be more difficult. The total national kitty is too small to accommodate the aspirations of all segments of the economy. In the budget document two components stand out, the debt servicing component and the Defence allocations, both of which have grown for their own reasons.




Pakistan's defence budget has traditionally been based on providing stringent funding for the military to maintain a minimum deterrence capability against India. With the phenomenal rise of terrorism, the complete security equation has changed, there is a huge demand for allocations to the armed forces for internal security. In 2009/10, Pakistan's revised Defense Budget was approximately Rs 378 billion, while proposed allocation for 2010- 2011 is Rs 442 Billion showing an increase of 16.5%. Considering an official inflation rate of 12.5%, in real terms it reflects a marginal increase of only 4%. India's defence allocation for 2010-11 is Rs.147,344 crore (Rs.1.47 trillion), up 8.13 percent from the revised estimates of the previous fiscal. Pakistan's Defence Budget translates to approx $5 billion as compared to India's $32 billion.




On a reciprocal basis, Pakistan has had an India Centric Defence strategy. India's attitude does not give us an iota of a reason to change our existing threat perception. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani recently stated "We remain concerned over Pakistan-specific Indian military doctrines such as the COLD START envisaging a limited conventional war under the nuclear overhand, huge increase in the Indian military budget and massive weapon acquisition". India continues to arm itself with most modern sophisticated weapon systems acquired from Russia, US and European sources, even Israel. Indian forces outnumber Pakistan's by a six to one. Pakistan can neither match the Indian numbers nor does it desire a parity. Our need is only to maintain a credible minimum affordable deterrence. Translated into actuality means that, we must have better equipped, better trained and a sleek force capable of countering Indian designs through quality.




India has started considering the Indian Ocean to be its own lake. Its strengthening its Navy by the day. India has plans to induct a fleet of three aircraft carriers in the coming years. Pakistan is forced to acquire naval weapon platforms to counter this threat. It costs dearly but we cannot allow India to develop a capability to choke our ports and our sea lines of commercial communications. Similarly India is planning air domination by spending almost 6 Billion dollars over next three years to acquire state of the art modern fighter aircraft from a verity of sources.




Our War on Terror has particularly contributed to the increase in the Defence Budget. Almost Two Army Corps have been deployed on or near our Western Borders in the Counter Terrorism mode. Simultaneously we are constrained not to lower our guard against the Indians in the East. The dilemma of a two front deployment is extremely strenuous on the Armed Forces limited resources. The Kashmir Corps which remains deployed on war footing round the year is logistically the most expensive formation to maintain. Now that instead of maintaining only one corps Pakistan has to maintain three Corps on war footing, obviously additional resources are required by the armed forces.




The equipment, training and logistic requirements for fighting terrorists and internal enemy is very different from traditional warfare for which the armed forces are equipped and trained. Such operations demand specialised training for counter terrorism, investment in acquisition of latest intelligence gathering equipment, specialised weapon and communication systems as well as unmanned aerial vehicles like drones to search out targets and provide the army with advance information. Acquisition of capability to move troops and supporting logistics etc rapidly in very difficult terrain both by land and air is vital to such operations. The army needs to induct specialised light armoured combat vehicles, transport helicopters as well as protected vehicles for movement of logistics and manpower along roads and tracks infested with Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). The defence budget needs to be enhanced to acquire these capabilities.




The Armed Forces weapons, vehicles and Equipment are undergoing severe wear and tear in the Counter Terrorism operations over prolonged period. All military equipment has a life, Army helicopters and PAF aircraft have life in hours, they need overhauls and replacement. PAF and Army are using a lot of ammunition against our internal enemy which is actually meant for external threat, the same needs regular recouping.




The Armed Forces of Pakistan are stretched all along the length and breadth of the country in the service of the nation. The military is the major institution supporting the calamity affected people through Humanitarian operations like IDPs of Malakand and FATA, people affected by the Hunza lake disaster or the cyclone affectees of coastal Baluchistan and Sindh.




Pakistan is passing through very difficult times. Terrorists and Anti State elements are having the better of us. For the future of our next generations we must contain this scourge before it seeps into the very vitals of our nation. The Armed Forces are at the forefront of our battle against this internal enemy while maintaining a credible defence against India which maintains a threatening posture against Pakistan. Pakistan's resources are very limited and need to be utilised very judiciously. One segment where every paisa spent under the present environment is justified is the Armed Forces and we must not desist from providing them with adequate monetary support.