Pakistan to boost defense spending after military showdown with India

Washington Post

2 days ago

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan announced on Tuesday a plan to significantly increase its defense spending, a month after a military confrontation with India that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war.
Addressing the lower house of parliament, Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the defense budget would rise by almost 20 percent, to $9 billion. It would be one of the largest increases in decades and will require the government to slash subsidies and other spending.
Defense should be prioritized, Aurangzeb told lawmakers, to meet what he called a 'historic moment.' Pakistan's parliament still needs to approve the budget, but the vote is viewed by analysts as a formality.
Pakistani officials said they have been offered a range of new military equipment by China — their chief international backer — including fighter jets, missile defense systems and high-tech monitoring aircraft.
During the hostilities last month, India struck targets deep inside Pakistan, raising questions about the effectiveness of the country's air defenses. Among the sites hit was an air base in Rawalpindi, where the military is headquartered.
Pakistan's defense budget will still be much smaller than that of its more powerful neighbor: India allocates around $80 billion for military spending and is debating a further increase.
'There is a staggering asymmetry in defence economics between India and Pakistan,' wrote political scientist Farrukh Saleem in the News International, a Pakistani newspaper.
But in May's aerial combat, 'efficiency trumped extravagance,' he wrote, echoing a widespread sentiment in Pakistan that the country had emerged victorious.
Pakistan claimed to have downed at least five Indian warplanes; a Post analysis found at least two French-made fighter jets appeared to have crashed. India recently acknowledged the loss of aircraft but did not provide a number.
Officials in Islamabad see the Indian losses as proof that their cheaper Chinese equipment can hold its own against Western technology.
Unlike past deals to purchase F-16 fighter jets from the United States, 'Pakistan's defense partnership with China features flexibility and it ranges from direct payments to deferred ones, to strategic gifting,' Pakistani military analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said.
That flexibility is key for Pakistan, which is still recovering from one of its worst economic crises in decades. As inflation soared to record levels in 2023, officials were forced to seek another bailout from the International Monetary Fund, which is still in the process of being released.
Rizvi said the increase in defense spending is unlikely to draw domestic criticism, even if it necessitates painful cuts. 'National survival has always overridden the financial debate,' he said.
The budget proposed Tuesday reduces total spending by around seven percent. Miftah Ismail, a former Pakistani finance minister, said the government should do its part by slashing 'excessive' salaries of civil servant and elected officials.
'Modernizing our armed forces is essential,' he said. 'But the key is spending wisely.'
In a speech Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif acknowledged 'the sacrifices the common man has made.'
Many in the country now ask what 'the wealthy groups have contributed,' Sharif said, adding: 'This is a question that the elite, including me, have to answer.'
Noack reported from Paris.