The Ministry of Defence has initiated the process of making budget proposals for the fiscal year 2015-16 keeping in view the level of threat perception perceived by the country's three defence services. Defence sources said that a substantial increase was expected in next defence budget as the country was engaged at two borders.
"Pakistan is a vulnerable state and we are fighting at two borders ie the war on terror and conflicts with India. We have to increase our defence budget at this stage, otherwise it would leave the country more vulnerable," the sources added. According to ministry of defence, Pakistan's defence budget is the lowest in the region despite its location in the critical zone in terms of growing threats to its security.
The Pakistani security establishment is monitoring Indian defence spending because India remains, in terms of its military capabilities, the principal threat to Pakistan's security. The Indian defence budget 2015 is set to hit a record high of $40 billion which does not compare favourably with Pakistani military budget of roughly $7 billion.
The defence budget of India has more than doubled over the past decade, making India the world's largest arms importer. The Indian defence budget is 1.8 percent of its GDP, the Chinese and the Pakistani defence budgets are well over 2.3 percent of their GDPs.
In a recent statement, the ISPR stated that repeated cease-fire violations by India on Working Boundaries/Line of Control in recent past was distracting Pakistan from campaign against terrorism which ultimately affected regional stability.
Talking to Business Recorder, former finance minister Saleem Mandviwalla said that there was no comparison in the financing of the defence expenditures between the two countries given the widely differing size of the two economies. However, he said Pakistan military would demand funds to counter the future defence planning of Indian armed forces.
Pakistan's military spending is 17 percent of total outlay of the national budget. In current fiscal year, Pakistan army gets 48 percent of the whole defence budget of Rs 700 billion, while 20 percent goes to Pakistan Air Force and Navy gets only 10 percent. Defence establishment also returns annually Rs 34 billion under various taxes out of the whole Rs 570 billion defence budget. Pakistan's armed forces are the sixth largest but our expenses per soldier are the lowest.
The defence sources said that the Finance Ministry had so far provided Rs 33 billion for military operation Zarb-e-Azb including requirements of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). They said that for the repatriation and resettlement of IDPs more funds would be needed in the current fiscal year.
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