While Pakistan’s citizens are queuing up for wheat flour, pulses and medicines, the Generals have usurped a major part of the Budget for new weapons, reported Afghan Diaspora Network (ADN).
The army is solely responsible for situation in Pakistan, it cannot deny it fattened up on that has been snatched from the people. In times of crisis, the so-called guardian of Pakistan, the army has refused to share close to USD 10 billion which its various enterprises generate every year. Such largesse is spent as privileges and perks of military personnel, mostly to the generals in the form of land, houses and other benefits. This huge sum remains out of the public domain.
The 2022-23 defence budget is estimated to be PKR 1.53 trillion (USD 7.5 billion), a phenomenal 12 per cent increase over the original military expenditure in 2021-22.
There has been no letup in the defence budget as the country went down economically and otherwise. The increase this year was in sharp contrast to the cuts in spending on the development sector, health, education and housing. The army cornered USD 669 million in 2019 which shot up to USD 760 million in 2020 and USD 884 million in 2021. These were the very years when the country suffered the Covid pandemic and then cataclysmic floods, reported ADN.
The latest data on the army’s procurements is confidential but a reliable estimate of the previous budgets as well as conservative estimates of combat requirements for the next five years would put the budgetary estimates to be higher than the present year. For instance, the army in 2021 purchased armoured vehicles worth USD 263 million compared to USD 92 million in 2020. These vehicles were part of Pakistan’s efforts to maintain and upgrade conventional warfare capabilities.