Note : Im not supporter of army rule in pakistan, neither supporter of Musharraf , neither do i support kurrupt pakistani polititians..
Lot of people have a problem with the 30% of pakistani financial resources spent on defence budget. and it has been said number of times that this is the major setback in the economic , educational development of Pakistan..
I would like you all ask a question. lets say Pakistan was concentrating on economic point of view, and no strong army , nukes and all that other WMD thingies.. do you think India would have left pakistan alone ? Dont you think Balance of military power is the only gaurentee of Pakistan’s economic and strong position ?
i think the army people would say, without us India will attack us and then u would have no economy.
the economy would say without our taxes u cannot afford to have a military.
in my opinion, to some extend a military is needed, not only for defence but for many other things, like rebuilding, national security ect.. as long as they keep peace and order in the country i am ok with it, can u imagine how our country would be like if we have no order at all. (like baghdad today)
what they need to cut down is all the special treatment with the country's money for the official and their families.
** Lot of people have a problem with the 30%** of pakistani financial resources spent on defence budget. and it has been said number of times that this is the major setback in the economic , educational development of Pakistan..
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You might want to recheck that percentage . As far as I know the percentage defence spending of Pakistan is more like 5% .
Now as far as the question of reducing the defence spending to bolster economy is concerned, it is more of a recursive/catch-22 situation . On the one hand it can be said that a excessive defence spending should be stopped to strengthen areas of the economy and that excessive defence spending is inimical to country's economic interests . An equally valid statement can be made that without a strong defence a country will not be considered secure enough for foreign investment and hence it's economy will suffer . Also, if the country's defence is not strong then the likelihood of attack on it's assets increases and economy is compromised .
the theory that the military is the guardian of pakistan's interest is not true. i think that pakistan has no threat from india. to clarify matters, look at who started the wars between india and pakistan. and now with the nuclear weapon in place, there is no need to fear an attack by india-this is not to mean that pakistan can get away with keeping on harming india. the india threat is magnified by the pak military to keep its stranglehold on power. so pakistan would do well to concentrate on its economy. this does not mean that the military should be neglected. it means that pakistan should maintain a military that matches its size and economy-not one that matches india's size and economy.
largest employer in pakistan is army not any industry that produces
goods so how it can sustain without creating jobs ? most of the
export earning comes from cotton i guess. investment in education
and hi-tech industry is only way to create jobs.
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*Originally posted by munnabhai: *
i think that pakistan has no threat from india. to clarify matters, look at who started the wars between india and pakistan.
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Yes, indeed, look back to 1965 and 1971 and see who's armed forces first violated an internationally recognised border both times.
The answer is India, both times. I don't know about you, but I classify "starting a war" as being the first to cross an internationally recognised border.
It depends on what figures you use. 5% is right if you go for GDP. 30% is also right because that is the portion of our national budget. Percentages mean jack really. The hardcore real money value is what matters and for our economy and its state, it is already more than too much.
I think we can take our guidance from the quran..where it states that be strong enough so that the enemy doesn't dare inflict harm on you. When ever Pakistan has been weak in history india has taken advantage. We for the stake of stability have to keep our budget level high... If you look at the present gov't it seems to be able to find money for education and other sectors.. why couldn't the gov't in the past. the reason being they were more interested in filling their pockets rather then helping the masses. Mashallah I have been speaking to some of my economic professors and they have all said that the future of Pakistan looks bright. lest stay the course and prosper and not let anti-pakistan elements divide us.
"my economic professors and they have all said that the future of Pakistan looks bright"
Your UFT economic professors should visit Pakistan and visit rural areas. They should also be asked to look at Financial Statements of last decade how much is being spent on defence and how much is being spent on social sector. If you are Paki you should better know what future would look like under current circumtances.
"my economic professors and they have all said that the future of Pakistan looks bright"
Your UFT economic professors should visit Pakistan and visit rural areas. They should also be asked to look at Financial Statements of last decade how much is being spent on defence and how much is being spent on social sector. If you are Paki you should better know what future would look like under current circumtances.
FARID
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First of all I'm not a paki, I'm Pakistani. Since you don't know much about economic thought it would be waste of time on my part to explain it to.
The future may be bright however the economy needs immense restructuring. First thing to do is cut unnecessary spending ie cut the defense budget. One of the reasons we have such huge debt is that we need Forex to buy military equipment. We get this forex through loans, but there is no income generation off the military equipment so our measely exports have to take the brunt of paying for our loans. With that we have no money for development so we take loans once again. We should be thankful to the chinese who gave us billions of dollars of grants until the 1970s.
Currently, Pakistan cannot sit back and declare that because it has nukes, it can reduce conventional military spending.
Pakistan does not have sufficient nuclear weapons to present India with an MAD scenario. As George Fernandes said, India can soak up the couple of million fatalities that Pakistan can currently inflict with its nuclear arsenal.
Until Pakistan has enough nukes to turn India into radioactive glassland, together with enough to have a 2nd and 3rd strike capability to do the same, it must depend on its conventional forces.
Cutting defence expenditure is currently not an option, because as it Pakistan does not have sufficient military resources to defend against an Indian invasion. If anything, if more money was available, more should be spent on defence.
Remember that Pakistan is faced with a neighbour that lays claim to Azad Kashmir as being part of its integral territory. Cutting defence spending would seriously impair Pakistan's ability to defend Azad Kashmir against foreign annexation.
There is no doubt that Pakistan should reduce military expenditure, as it is significantly harming the economy.
However, Pakistan cannot feasibly do this without compromising Azad Kashmir until such a point as Pakistan has several thousand high yield thermonuclear warheads, with which it can assure that so much as a border violation will be met by an all-out nuclear attack on every inch of Indian territory.
At that point, a conventional armed force will not be required. An immensely powerful nuclear umbrella would be the guarantor of safety and territorial integrity for both Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.
I think the Nukes are a good deterrent, and conventional weapons are irrelevent at this point. Pakistans biggest counter to Indias bloated defense budget is not countering it at every coast. The best option is to compete economically.. We may never be equa in size to their economy, but even a relatively strong economy is a great advatage.
We need to focus our attention on internal matters. Particularly on national cohesion and good governance. As far as Kashmir is concerned, my feeling is we should invest heavily in our Kashmir, building infrastructure, schools, and other such places. Make it the envy of Indian occupied Kashmir. We should win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people, if not on that side, then on our own side.
