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ISLAMABAD: The Senate defence committee was informed by the ministry of defence that Pakistan's defence budget is the lowest in the region despite its location in the red zone in terms of growing threats to its security.
“Pakistan's defence allocation (US$5.7 billion approximately) is the lowest as compared to rising defence budget of India US$37.256 billion, China $115 billion, and Turkey $19.1 billion,” Additional Secretary Ministry of defence Air Vice Marshal Arshad Quddus told the committee meeting, which was specially called for the defence budget briefing.
According to the United Nations, Pakistan had a gross domestic product of US $215 billion in the year 2012. In comparison, GDP for Turkey was recorded at $788 billion, India at $1,875bn, and China at $8,358bn.
He disclosed that all defence and defence production organisations get their funds from defence budget allocated by the federal government and approved by the Parliament.
“Pakistan Army gets 48 per cent of the whole defence budget while 20pc goes to Pakistan Air force and Navy gets only 10pc,” the senior Air force officer said.
Related: Heavy military spending hurting India, Pakistan: US report
When asked about budget of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the additional secretary said the country’s premier intelligence agency also gets its money from the budget allocated for defence.
However, he avoided replying to questions about specific budgetary allocations for the ISI and its audit, saying, “Since the Indian RAW and Isreali Mossad’s budget is not disclosed,” so he would not say anything about the spy agency’s budget.
“There is absolute transparency in the making of the defence budget and strong audit and accountancy mechanism is well placed to check its proper spending,” the defence official said.
AVM Quddus admitted that military pensions, which have risen to over Rs100 billion, were not given from the defence budget but from civilian allocations.
He said whatever is left at the end of the financial year is returned to the federal government by the ministry of defence adding that defence establishment also returns annually Rs34 billion under various taxes out of the whole Rs570 billion defence budget.
The additional defence secretary showed his annoyance over certain questions by the media and members of the committee including Senator Farhatullah Babur and Senator Sughra Imam of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Speaking on the occasion, chairman of the committee, Senator Mushahid Hussain syed said this was first time in Parliamentary history that the ministry of defence was taking into confidence the defence committee and the media over the defence budget.
“There has been no genuine defence minister in Pakistan’s political history and with part-time minister, defence system will not work,” Mushahid remarked. He disclosed that when Parliamentary committee on national security formulated its terms of reference on reopening of Nato supplies, GHQ or ISI were not consulted and it was a sole parliamentary decision.
Senator Babar questioned the security establishment’s vast network of industrial, commercial and business enterprises throughout the country and said it had been kept out of public and parliamentary discourse and called upon the members of Parliament to equip themselves with knowledge and expertise to be able to exercise rigorous oversight of the Milbus.
“There is need to look into state subsidies and other support provided to these entities including Fauji Foundation, Army Welfare Trust, Shaheen Foundation, Bahria Foundation, Frontier Works Organisation, National Logistioc Cell and scores of others and examine its adverse impact on the growth of free market economy,” the PPP leader commented.
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On DawnNews
Comments (147) Closed
May 19, 2014 10:23pm
And now let the "Pakistan Obsessed Indians" comment on this news.
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May 19, 2014 10:40pm
please help army by boosting its budget and give due attention to boost your defence.It is requested that the PM and
opposition leader try their best to boost our army by all means.
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May 19, 2014 10:57pm
Pakistan's 5,7 billian against India's 37,2 billion defence budjet is a direct threat to the Pakistani people as it is we who are India's target number one.
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May 19, 2014 11:15pm
Absolute numbers mean nothing. What exactly is share of this $5.7 BN from total GNP. I bet Pakistan's average spending per GNP or GDP is right up there.
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May 19, 2014 11:15pm
Defence Spending percentage of GDP (2012):
Bangladesh: 1.1%
Malaysia: 1.5%
Afghanistan: 1.8%
Iran: 1.8%
China: 2%
Turkey: 2.3%
Sri Lanka: 2.4%
India: 2.5%
Pakistan: 2.7%
Singapore: 3.6%
UAE: 4.7%
Saudi Arabia: 9.3%
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May 19, 2014 11:16pm
Pakistan's income is also probably less!
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May 19, 2014 11:18pm
No money left for the defence of the country because all the money is in politicians' Swiss bank accounts!!!
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May 19, 2014 11:19pm
@Ali Pakistan Obsessed Indians ? As if you guys are not obsessed with India!
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May 19, 2014 11:20pm
That is because we have the lowest GDP amongst the above stated countries (US $215 billion 2012) out which 40% is being spent on Defense .....I do not think breeching the 40% level woul dbe good for other sectors.
Please see the numbers in right prespective
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May 19, 2014 11:30pm
More than the country can afford in any case
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May 19, 2014 11:31pm
True, we also know that Pakistan has almost double the number of atom bombs than India has. How much we spend to maintain these bombs, besides how much did we spend in the past to make them?
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May 19, 2014 11:32pm
Defense spending does not always equate to an effective military. We should focus on a smaller military that is much better trained than the current crop. Plus focus should be on non-conventional tactics: EM bombs, legal biological and psychological weapons, assassination of key figures of enemy states, cyber warfare and more active intelligence operators.
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May 19, 2014 11:34pm
Actually, Pakistan's defense budget allocation seems to be the highest in the region as a percentage of total GDP for 2012.
Pakistan 2.65%
Turkey 2.42%
India 1.99%
China 1.38%
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May 19, 2014 11:41pm
We need to have a VERY STRONG army to protect ourselves against growing neighbor threats. I'm shocked that we have such a low budget for our defense, especially in this day and age.
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May 19, 2014 11:42pm
While comparing with other countries, comparing in absolute terms make no sense. Pakistan is spending more on its military in terms of GDP when compare to Turkey, China and India. In fact, the Pakistan's per capita expenditures on its military are also higher than these economies. So, Pakistan is already spending more on its troops compared to its capacity.
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May 19, 2014 11:48pm
India is spending too much. Why is Turkey doing the same? Spending on army is directly proportional to the national GDP .....whats % of GDP you spend is what matters.
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May 20, 2014 12:02am
I personally think that the defense budget should be increased keeping in view the dynamics of the region....Remember that if Pakistan want full control on the Afghan border they have to increase the Millitary budget....If you want to modernize your Air-Force, Navy and Army you will have to invest heavily.....We don't live in Western Europe and therefore cannot ignore our defense forces.....
But this should be done once the government is able to increase the economic growth above 10%....
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May 20, 2014 12:03am
It is dangerous and highly irresponsible to have such a low budget, particularly with Modi as one neighbor and TTP another.
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May 20, 2014 12:08am
Increase the defense budget, this neighborhood is getting a bit unpredictable.
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May 20, 2014 12:34am
@DK The very fact that you are roaming around on Pakistani Newspaper's website and commenting proves Ali's point. Not the other way around.
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May 20, 2014 01:04am
So all that we had been hearing was false ?
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May 20, 2014 01:12am
Pakistan Def EXP US$5.7 billion - GDP US $215 billion, This is 2.65% of Total GDP of Pakistan...!!
Indian Def EXP US$37.256 billion - GDP $1,875bn, This is just 1.98 % of the Total GDP of India...!!
If my maths is correct then Pakistan is spending more on it's Defense than India in terms of ratio...!! and it's not India's fault that it's economy is the third largest in the world - so DAWN please give the correct information to your people on defense spending....also thanks for giving opportunity for post my comment...
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May 20, 2014 01:40am
Lot of pakistani freinds asking to increse defence budget rather they should ask better relation with India to decrase spending on arms and always remember india not spending for pak threat. Our concerns r diffrent. In decade or two our defence budget would be almost equal to pak's total GDF (then how will u match too)
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May 20, 2014 01:53am
Education and better living standards should be our goal and not spending on defense. Economic cooperation between India and Pakistan means improvements of millions of lives in India and Pakistan. We should focus on that.
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May 20, 2014 02:23am
In a country where total tax collection is approx 20 billion dollars, 5.5 billion dollar of army expenditure is too much. The govt should make sure that every income is taxed
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May 20, 2014 02:28am
Dipak@Shah
India needs to compete with China, not Pakistan. With Modi as Indian PM, Pakistan does not have to worry at all, you can spend your defense budget on ordinary people to get out of Stone Age.
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May 20, 2014 02:50am
every spending is lowest, reason we all know... money is allocated for spending but it goes some where else and then obviously not much will be spend ..my last 10 years since i started working all i know is that every department every person is in search of jugar .
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May 20, 2014 03:07am
Misleading article headline- meaningless analysis. You can't compare defense budget purely by how much money was allocated to it. It has to be looked at as a percent of total GDP because Pakistan's GDP is not the same/as large as compared to that of China, Turkey and India (it's not comparing apples to apples). Pakistan spends roughly 2 percent of its GDP on defense budget which is in line with India and Turkey's spending.
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May 20, 2014 03:14am
Pakistan and India need to drastically cut their current military spendings, otherwise there will be no real economic progress or friendly cross-border trade.
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May 20, 2014 04:15am
@Kamal Percentage of GDP is a easily manipulated figure. Bad method of comparison.
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May 20, 2014 04:24am
Pak defense budget is ridiculously low. It is obvious that Economic development is national priority#1 to maximize the Economy so that the government is able to significantly increase defense spending for equipping the Armed forces with the latest equipment and military technology to face the national security challenges of today and tomorrow. In the mean time the leadership of Pak armed forces need to help develop single focus on national defense by getting out of business ventures like DHAs, AWT, FAUJI, SHAHEEN, NLC and BAHRIA etc. A professional Army should be in business of defense only
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May 20, 2014 04:47am
What is Pakistan's per capita expenditure on defense ... ? ... or what is Pakistan's defense expenditure as a percentage of GDP ... ? ... why does the article talk in absolute terms and mislead its people ... ??
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May 20, 2014 05:13am
Really? Lowest in the region? Did you leave out Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc.? Just trying to compare with china and India? Fools.
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May 20, 2014 05:40am
Lets hope that all the nations in the subcontinent cut defense spending and use their money for education, building infrastructure, reforestation, health, etc.
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May 20, 2014 05:43am
@Bizmark it was just 17 percent of total budget in 2013.add 4 percent of military pensions and it becomes 21 percent my dear. don't spread lies . and dont forget that we r at war. (a simple google search will tell u these facts my friend)
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May 20, 2014 06:27am
Wish all nations in the world would spend less on weapons and more on education, health, and reforestation.
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May 20, 2014 06:42am
@Kamal If you factor in the military aid to Pakistan from the US and Saudi Arabia, the resultant figures look even more contrary to the claims made in the headline to this article.
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May 20, 2014 07:37am
Thank you God I left the continent of violence,war and religious bigotry. In Canada my best friends are from India. We live in peace and don't worry about the army and its budget. we pay taxes for health, education and roads. Goodbye the land of darkness, wars and blindness.
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May 20, 2014 07:45am
@Ali We are interested to know whats going on in Pak to keep us well informed. Does watching Hollywood movies make you madly obsessed with USA?
On the budget, there is just so much you can afford with a limited resources and economy at your disposal. Consider the 2.7% as a good figure. Apart from that nobody gives a flying xx as to what Pak does with the money. India is not even in its league now. All we care about is stability in Pak so that the whole region remains calm. Clearly, this is not the case as of now.
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May 20, 2014 07:49am
@Agha Ata
We will need those bombs for bad times. Look Saudi Arabia just paid us 1.5 billion..we can make some money...maybe we can sell one of those to TTP, after all they have a lot of money. Oh never mind, they get their funding from gulf states and SA.
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May 20, 2014 08:09am
pakistan should allocate 95% of its budget in defence. I think 5% should be good enough to live and survive. modernized defences are the key to survival in today's world.
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May 20, 2014 08:10am
This is not good, now that will deluded liberals use to target Pakistan's defences? Don't worry, our journalists will bore the enemy to death and liberals will make Indian tanks skid with their burgers, we don't need a well maintained army, India is our friend anywa (Ukraine anyone?)
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May 20, 2014 08:11am
Pakistan should allocate 95% for its defence needs. It will be top most power in the region. Noone can dare look at it and the borders will be safe :).
Also, they should find ways to increase defence production, produce more defence equipment, missiles and bombs so in the eventuality of enemy attack, they can fight for longer time and defeat the enemy..
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May 20, 2014 08:11am
@Ali We Pakistanis want to know how much is spent on the welfare, schools and education of our poorest families and children. We Pakistanis want to know how much is spent on our health and hospitals and public roads and transport systems. We Pakistanis do not want to know how much money is spent on the defence because how is defence spending going to boost the welfare and economic well being of poor Pakistani families. You only spend on defence if the country has something to defend. what do you want to defend in Pakistan. We are too busy killing each other in the name of religion. Pakistan is so broke i want to know which country wants to attack Pakistan. Indians are putting up fences on their border to keep out Pakistanis.
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May 20, 2014 08:22am
What does it translate per capita , India's population is over a billion, ask the increased amount from the richest 10% who do not contribute any taxes towards the budget.
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May 20, 2014 08:24am
More budget, producing more terrorists!!!!
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May 20, 2014 08:35am
spend it on schools, roads and infrastructure.
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May 20, 2014 08:47am
Shame on the Pakistan military for bullying politicians into giving them inflated budgets. Pakistan's fight is not with India anymore - thanks to the nuclear stalemate Indians have had to give up their dreams of invading Pakistan. It is with the few thousand terrorists who should have been wiped out a long time ago.
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May 20, 2014 08:57am
I think that's a smart move. Looking at the current situation in Pakistan, they should concentrate on development and economy rather than spending large chunk on defence. I feel nuclear war would never happen and it would be foolish to spend on it. And after all Pakistan's biggest threat India has no first nuclear policy. So its unless Pakistan does something foolish and provokes India, its safe.
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May 20, 2014 09:13am
@Shah No, you shouldn't give all along a emphasis on the threat perception only; rather you are to think over the socio-economic condition of a country first. Pakistan is not comparable with Turkey, China or India as because they have already been graduated as industrially developed countries. But Pakistan's status in this respect is quite different as you know although it is having with so much potentials that remains mostly underutilized or depleted by the corrupt system.Look at the other corresponding strengths of these countries in the sectors of education(science,technology and research),health and sanitation, infra-structure(roads/highways,railways,aerial, ports and other multimodal facilities), electricity, accountability (of the politician, police, administration and military personnel) to the constitutional institutions as the public audits and accounts general's office, election commission, judiciary etc.From AVS statement it is also found that some military spending are not auditable at all. If so,isn't it a contrary to the ethics, morality and financial discipline?
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May 20, 2014 09:29am
Just because our economy is smaller than our enemy does not mean our defence allocation should be smaller too. The consequences if that approach will be catastrophic.
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May 20, 2014 09:35am
Despite its lowest defence dpecnding Pakistan has been the Prepetrator of 3 Wars and Kargil against India
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Defence spending in Pakistan delivers Military domination and Military adventurism and not security.
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May 20, 2014 09:38am
@Ali Who cares what you spend on defense ?:):):)
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May 20, 2014 10:28am
@Kamal in the end it is the enemy we face, 2 million Indian army against our 600,000. At present odds evenly stacked. We always take on larger adversaries.
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May 20, 2014 10:36am
There is little sense in comparing absolute numbers with countries that have at least five Pakistan's economic output. India's GDP is US$ 1.8 trillion while Pakistan's is US$ 230bn. In essence, India's economy is nearly eight times that of Pakistan's. China is in a different league with a GDP of over US$ 8 trillion.
This comparison is analogous to stacking up a Zebra's appetite against that of an elephant.
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May 20, 2014 10:42am
@Ali
Seriously my neighbor we are more concerned about China than you. You are obsessed with India since you separated from us, and to be honest you will never ever be able to defeat us except in hockey, squash or cricket.
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May 20, 2014 10:43am
@Ahmer 'Just because our economy is smaller than our enemy does not mean our defence allocation should be smaller too. The consequences if that approach will be catastrophic.'.
Right. Tax collection in Pakistan is less than 20 billion and you want to match the expense of the Indian army at 37.5 billion? Wow.
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May 20, 2014 10:45am
@Asif It surely indicate Pakistan is obsessed with arms.
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May 20, 2014 10:46am
@Zak and becoming more realistic
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May 20, 2014 10:48am
"AVM Quddus admitted that military pensions, which have risen to over Rs100 billion, were not given from the defence budget but from civilian allocations."
I suggest that the wages and allowances shouls also be given from the Civilian Budget.Cmon be Patriotic.
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May 20, 2014 10:53am
@Ali: The very fact that you have tried to compare the defense spending of Pakistan vs India, shows who's obsessed with whom.
@Shah: People like you cut such a sorry picture of representative IQ levels from your country when you compare defense spending in absolute number. Comparison is done as a % spend against the GDP of your country. Between 2009 - 2013, it is 2.4% for India and 3.1% for Pakistan. And then there are factors like GNI per capita and projected GDP for the next few years. Go check the World Bank site yourselves and make logical interpretations. Hopefully, there are smarter people in your country who have the ability to interpret statistics.
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May 20, 2014 11:00am
@Zak
Remember, Russia went into pieces when it started competing with USA in military spending. However, it is your right to spend more. Pakistan, immediately, can increase its budget from 5 billion to 50 billion, and later raise that to 500 billion. You will be ahead of the Indians for another hundred years at least. Hamid Gul can have some peace.
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May 20, 2014 11:03am
India's GDP is nine times larger than Pakistan as of 2012. India spends about 7 times more than Pakistan.
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May 20, 2014 11:09am
@Ahmer
Of course not. Your GDP is less than 300 billion, and you can spend 200 billion on defence. After all, it is your money.
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May 20, 2014 11:58am
@Qamar
Actually the military still gets much more than they deserve. If a fraction of that money could be used in more important areas, such as education and healthcare, we'd have fewer problems to deal with.
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May 20, 2014 12:05pm
The USA gives free military stuff to Pakistan worth $billions. No mention of that here.
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May 20, 2014 12:17pm
It is about time Pakistan spent more, why cannot Pakistan double its spending - perhaps even triple it. That will make Pakistan more secure ;-)
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May 20, 2014 12:19pm
Muslim armies in any post independent countries in this century are getting huge amount of money from their governments. But it is also a fact that they have never or seldom won any war against foreign aggressor. They are mostly used by these leaders to quell internal dissent and crush local people.
Pakistan has very high percentage of GDP allotted for defence spending. There is no war with any country since 1971 which is more then 40 years of time. Pakistan is getting on its critical junction of its survival. People are young and no money to live the life which is shown by media to them. Pakistan must have to prioritize that how it needs to run this country after few years. Either you live in a state which is lawless, wealth in a particular section of society and army is there to protect them and their interests and in return get some share. Result of this policy will be continued external debt. Revolving of Pakistans few remaining power sources around those who give some annual grants or aid as this could be helpful for paying pay and pensions.
The other option is that reduction of defence budget, use this money for making one complete judicial system which include police, judiciary and jails independent of political interference. This high quality system will ensure that governance in Pakistan improve and people start to live in a truly independent Pakistan as it was claimed by its founding fathers.
This should end here with a small note that USA spends more money of above three things which I mentioned then for CIA, army, airforce or navy. This is what taking USA all along.
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May 20, 2014 12:22pm
Pakistan's army should be self-sufficient and self-reliant to be lean and effective only. How many $s spent is irrelevant, it should be per $ what our army is getting... With the least amount of budget allocated, atleast we have started to build our own tanks and planes, ofcourse with our international partners assisting with the know-how and technology....
Guys there is so much talent, I wish our military had dedicated engineering r&d unit to develop ingenious solutions...without draining too much of our little economic capital which anyways is subjected to fierce level of corruption by the civilian govt...
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May 20, 2014 12:41pm
@Ali Indians are not obsessed with Pakistan, but when you see comments from Indians, think that How much computer and internet users are there in India. Moreover Pakistan is the biggest problem for India
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May 20, 2014 12:57pm
The only function left for the Pak Army is to carry out coups for which this budget is excessive. Pak defence budget is 40% of annual budget while India's is 20%. Pak needs to cut down this disproportionate expenditure and spend on development. Pak can spend more only when the economy generates surpluses. And what about taxing the upper crust and widening the tax net.
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May 20, 2014 01:07pm
It is long overdue for the elected officials of the people, to have clear guidance as to how much of the awaams money the defence establishment has been swallowing. The assistance defence minister may have been irritated, but its not his money. Its OUR money. They seem to behave as if we the people have no right to enquire where our own money is being spent.
People will have faith in governance, if there is greater transparency, and they can see where their money is going. No organisation should be allowed hide behind security and some other false excuse.
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May 20, 2014 01:31pm
@BRR Yes. Just do it.
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May 20, 2014 01:31pm
Please be very honest with youself and find out how many times India started the conflict with Pakistan.
The facts are NOT EVEN ONCE. Every time the war was imposed on India and on each occasion you know what the result was.This is confirmed by senior Generals of Pak. army.
So please for God sake lets try to live in hormany with out fearing and threatening each other.
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May 20, 2014 01:46pm
Does Pakistan need an Army? With such a miserable condition (economically, socially and politically), it would be a liability for whoever invades or colonizes it Big powers always invade assets not liability.
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May 20, 2014 02:09pm
@Ali
Yes, thats why Indians watch all your movies, TV Serials and Indian news papers are filled with Pakistani news.
Our singers/artists line-up the visa offices to gain entry to Pakistan !
Well, hopefully, now you know who is obsessed with whom ? But yes, Indians are interested in whats happening in the neighbor for sure, but obsession ! ha !
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May 20, 2014 02:15pm
@Shah Why do you think that Pakistan is India's target? We have our problems. Pakistanis have their problems. The same problems......of lack of infrastructure, jobs, homes, schools, etc. Time we all put our recourses for improving the lives of our peoples. Its it time we all live and let live, and learn to get along.
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May 20, 2014 02:21pm
All of a sudden everyone in the comments section is a military and defence spending analyst
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May 20, 2014 02:42pm
Mr. Farhatullah Babar should know that various companies under Fauji Foundation are registered under Companies Ordinance and subject to compliance to Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan rules. They get their accounts audited, submit it to Stock Exchanges and paid billions of Rupees taxes in national exchequer. How much Income Tax his leader Asif Ali Zardari paid that is the most relevant question committee members should ask him. First of all our parlimentarians should learn how economy functions and how Companies works before they reach to parliament.
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May 20, 2014 02:54pm
@Zak
2 million Indian army ?? You just created a ghost army of 1 million for India. By writing such comments, you project current generation of English educated Pakistanis in poor light.
@Ahmed:
Countries become alert when they see Pakistani passport, then why do you think India would invade Pakistan ? India is least concerned about Pakistan and wouldn't take over, even if Pakistan requests. The reasons are obvious.
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May 20, 2014 03:15pm
"He disclosed that all defence and defence production organisations get their funds from defence budget allocated by the federal government and approved by the Parliament."
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And the funds are wasted for exmaple in the manufacture of obsolete JF 17 Thunders.......
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May 20, 2014 03:17pm
More money for Army to support polio vaccination drive......
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May 20, 2014 03:18pm
@DK
Modi win in India demonstrates that Indians are absolutely obsessed with Pakistan! India is hardly any issue in our elections!!
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May 20, 2014 03:20pm
@Bizmark
Plz elaborate your figure of 40% ... how its is true ?
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May 20, 2014 03:23pm
@ansh
The fact that 80% of Indian Armed forces are deployed on our border ... doesn't prove that India has "other" concerns !
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May 20, 2014 03:32pm
@Bizmark
Plz elaborate how 5.7 billion is 40% of GDP ? :P
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May 20, 2014 03:36pm
@Dipak Hahaha, you (Indians) are living in "GOLD AGE".
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May 20, 2014 04:16pm
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May 20, 2014 04:32pm
India and China don't have to beg the IMF for money to keep their countries from going bankrupt. Those countries are able to pay army from their own money not borrowed money.
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May 20, 2014 04:37pm
Why does Pakistan army need more budget? For China? For India? Come on, that is a joke. Even if you invite us to come and take over Pakistan, we will refuse that.
"Pehle polio removal...Phir missiles".
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May 20, 2014 05:05pm
How much free weaponry do you get as handouts from USA and China?
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May 20, 2014 05:08pm
@Zak You mean from the inside out?
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May 20, 2014 05:09pm
@Mubashir They don't need any boosting. If you want to save Pakistan - invest in education, fighting corruption and creating a healthy environment for business investment and employment.
A lop sided economy with too much spent on an out of control defence establishment has got us to this mess.
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May 20, 2014 05:15pm
@Tamil Arasan --- Good Point. People on this forum are not capable of understanding.
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May 20, 2014 05:19pm
@Puneet ...you are wrong. Pak should spend 100% on defence.
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May 20, 2014 05:22pm
@Zak ....Keep dreaming.
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May 20, 2014 05:32pm
The Figures given by the Author are : Pakistan had a gross domestic product of US $215 billion in the year 2012. In comparison, India at $1,875bn,So India's Economy is 8.721 times that of Pakistan. Pakistan's defence allocation is US$5.7 billion approximately. As such India's Defence Allocation should be US$ 5.7 Billion X 8.721 i.e. US$ 49.71 Billion. However India's Defence Allocation is only US$37.256 billion. Evidently the Indian Defence Allocation is comparatively less than Pakistan and thus India must spend an additional US$ 12.45 Billion to keep pace with Pakistan's Defence Capability..
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May 20, 2014 05:43pm
@Jalaluddin S. Hussain You worry about Pakistan's defense spending. We'll worry about ours. Incidentally, we also spend more than Pakistan on Health and Education. Why not try and compete with that.
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May 20, 2014 05:45pm
@Ali, I think Pakistan should raise its defence budget. It is quite low. They should at least double it. A couple of squadrons of F16s will do the trick.
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May 20, 2014 05:49pm
Bhutto famously said "we will build atom bomb even if we need to eat grass for generations"...... Seems like it came true. Keep eating grass
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May 20, 2014 05:57pm
@danial - For that to happen, first political leaders in the govt itself, need to start paying taxes.
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May 20, 2014 06:36pm
@Zar Khan Wazir As if Pakistani's are not commenting on Indian news portals!
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May 20, 2014 06:40pm
@Aziz but Kashmir is?
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May 20, 2014 07:11pm
@ansh We know that's why you elected RSS again to improve relations with Pakistan.
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May 20, 2014 07:19pm
@Kamal
If Pakistan survive infection, Malnutrition will do the job. Choose your ?
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May 20, 2014 07:36pm
Yes, Dawn, you are right! We spend only 2% on Military and 70% on Education and Development!! :p
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May 20, 2014 07:44pm
How much does a Lt. General get in salary and perks? A major General? And a Brigadier General?
Times that to however many of these Generals are in the service, and are on retirement benefits.
Then figure out what gets left for actual defense, as far as equipment, training and deployment is concerned.
Oh and how many Generals took Helicopters to go watch the Gilgit/Skardu Polo match?
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May 20, 2014 08:05pm
@Ali India's defense budget according to figures above is less than Pakistan if you compare Spending to GDP in percentage... Compare of border area that these two have to cover in all even then pakistan would come out winner... Indians are pak obsessed.. India have more borders to manage as well...
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May 20, 2014 10:20pm
@Qamar or in Generals bank accounts.
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May 20, 2014 10:25pm
First of all why so much detail is even needed in this article. Is Dawn trying to defend the Zardari Group. Can anyone ask where the money for the Zardari Group is coming. I still remember those days when the Zardari House was in shambles with peeling paint and dying plants. They did not even had any money for the upkeep of the property how now they are able to bring a towering construction?
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May 20, 2014 10:28pm
@farid rightly said u r the only person 2 make sense in this sham.
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May 21, 2014 01:46am
Presently all developed countries including super powers are cutting down defence spending, in the same way this almost developed country is doing.
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May 21, 2014 01:47am
Sadly most of the money we spend on buying arms comes from donated money from USA, China and Saudi Arabia while India and China our neighbor uses their own money. We need peace not war.
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May 21, 2014 01:49am
@Zeeshan to maintain it's power/status in the world it is required?
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May 21, 2014 01:51am
Insufficient defense spending, no dams built, no pipelines built, no reservoirs built. All this makes the nation vulnerable to aggression from outside powers and keeps the citizens of the country in a state of constant suffering. What in the world are you trying to do, Pakistan government (and that includes the present and previous governments)? Destroy your own country?
Common citizens should start rolling up their sleeves and begin the work themselves...
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May 21, 2014 02:36am
I think these numbers are meaningless. Its all about efficiency and effectiveness. All of us can spend $100 in different ways. If you spend wisely than Pakistan's $1B expenditure could meet its requirements and if we are incompetent, then even $100B cannot meet our "desires". Starting question is, with a nuclear deterrent already in place, why do we need an army of over 500 people? Why do army people need to live in the top areas of every major city which normal citizens cannot afford? Why do need to send tons of army people to all over the world for training while not providing the same facilities to civilians with potential. As they say, its always the economy stupid! If we become an economic power, there will be a line of countries that will come to our defense. Don't believe me, try attacking Singapore or Dubai, you will have all of Europe and America against you!
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May 21, 2014 03:23am
It should also be noted that we have the highest ratio of defense spending to GDP, the lowest per capita GDP, the lowest literacy rate and the highest corruption level amongst all countries listed in this article.
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May 21, 2014 03:36am
@Zak
Like the 3 wars?
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May 21, 2014 03:52am
How can you say our defense spending is lowest in the region. Do a bit of math calculation and you will see we are spending the most. Compared to our GDP, we are spending 2.65% compared to India spending 1.98% and China spending 1.3%. But what do we have to show for it? We are letting terrorists take over our country, the Americans entered our country to kill OBL, without our military knowing about it, etc. Don't let the dollar amount fool you - more of our scare resources are wasted on military and unfortunately, there is not much to show for in return!
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May 21, 2014 06:29am
pakistan,india and china need not spend on big militaries since all are atomic powers and should respect each other since any one of these try to engulf other will result in nuclear war so really 5.7 billion of pakistan,37 billion of india and 115 billion of china can be used for other constructive and mutually beneficial purposes to strenthen each other economies and thus alleviating poverty in these three countries and make a joint economic forum which would be the biggest and largest in the world but we three are buying arms from west one way or the other and making their economies hefty and ours filmsy and making our public poor,hungry and dissatisfied and thus in times of war ,our discontent and unhealthy public will not be able to fight and survive in which case big militaries will not help as in many cases in history .So we three must channel our resources to peoples betterment and trilaterally make an agreement not to attack or buy arms from west .In this way all three can work togather and will become real friends rather than foolishly fearing each other,infact the trilateral agreement should guarantee each other help if one of us is attacked by anybody else---I have this vision but I am not at the helm of affairs
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May 21, 2014 06:36am
This is the reason we need the strategic assets, even tough it is not the ideal solution.
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May 21, 2014 06:40am
@Alethia
How is it that not building dams causes other countries to invade us? Do you mean not investing enough in our people, instead of say spending a lot of money on army equipment the returns of which are nill so far?
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May 21, 2014 07:04am
Don't mislead people. tell them how much Pakistan spend on education, health, social welfare, R&D. and total % of GDP Pakistan spend on defence compare to other countries in region.
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May 21, 2014 07:15am
@Zar Khan Wazir are news websites meant for the native country only? How will one know what's going around the world? You are living in a box.
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May 21, 2014 07:18am
@Ali your defense ministry is comparing with India and you are saying Indians are obsessed. And by the way what is your country after all to be obsessed for? Strong countries don't compare with weak ones but stronger ones. And this article proves itself which is stronger and not
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May 21, 2014 07:26am
Indian Defense Budget is close $48 Billion. India Defense Budget does not count the $10.5 Billion that is used by the Military to counter insurgencies and freedom movements in different regions of India. Kashmir, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, the entire North Eastern States are ruled under Indian Military Law AFSPA. Cost of that deployment is in addition to $37.5 Billion in defense spending. e.g. The State of Nagaland has been ruled under Military Law since 1958. It is the longest Military Rule in history.
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May 21, 2014 08:12am
I am afraid defense expenditure must be compared in relation to GDP only and not just dollars and cents-.Statistically India spends 2.5% of GDP and Pakistan, having a much smaller GDP and compared to India, spends over 3% and after 15% hike it is probably 3.45%. Therefore Pakistan is a higher spending nation for defense without calculating US and Saudi Arabian gifts every year. It could well exceed 5% as US and Saudi Arabian billions not calculated in in Pakistani national GDP. This article is misleading !
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May 21, 2014 08:22am
@Naveed
Your information is wrong. While it is true that some of the North Eastern states have insurgencies, all the north eastern states have elected govt. and their own Chief Ministers including Nagaland. States like Tripura, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh does not have any insurgency as far as I know.
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May 21, 2014 09:16am
because Paksitan is broke.
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May 21, 2014 10:34am
Poor is poor. Poor can't exceed expenses.
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May 21, 2014 11:26am
@Gp65 Do we have any other choice but to match by hook or crook even if we have to eat grass as one of our Prime Ministers had very appropriately declared?
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May 21, 2014 12:37pm
@Bizmark 40% :D 5.7 billion dollars over 215 billion dollars....thats only 2.7%!
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May 21, 2014 01:55pm
@H Chaudhry
I fully agree. Comparing absolute numbers regarding defense spending in Pakistan with those among the largest world economies, China & India, is misleading. I wish someone had presented absolute numbers of spending in China, India, and Turkey on HRD and human welfare. Pakistan MUST stop comparing its defense spending with India. Why we compare ourselves with India and China while indicators of our social development are closer to the much less developed countries. Pakistan will grow when resources are diverted to the people development.
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May 21, 2014 02:51pm
As a percentage of the GDP the Pakistan Defence establishments get a bigger share the an most of our neighbours. Why ?
The Army runs many commercial enterprises which an Army have no business doing. They have no business running educational establishments. These enterprises are to benefit the army benefits.
That money should go to educate the nations young to support the well educated recruitment pool.
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May 21, 2014 04:09pm
@Khan:
A country without proper infrastructure is a country which is vulnerable.
The electricity and water which dams and reservoirs provide are essential for national defense i.e. communications, continuance of agriculture, the needs of the army and the masses in a national emergency...
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May 21, 2014 04:45pm
I stopped reading right after Turkey was mentioned. Didn't know Turkey was in the same region as India & Pakistan.
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May 21, 2014 04:45pm
Very interesting blog. But I dont see any comments from "Our man from Toronto currently living in Detroit MI"
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May 21, 2014 06:00pm
This should also be calculated per square mile of the country and per mile of border
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May 21, 2014 09:43pm
Small budget but big headache for many
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May 22, 2014 12:49am
Money that can be better spent elsewhere is being wasted in fear of a marching army from across the border which will never come
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May 22, 2014 02:28am
@independentthinker One of the reasons to have highest defense spending is to maintain the first use nuclear policy. Maintaining the first use nuclear policy is very expensive and only the US can afford it with borrowed money from China.
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May 22, 2014 03:29am
I cant understand that if situation is such worst than how some pakistani polititions have roared to fight india for 1000 years!!! And we must understand that in present world war are fought by economy and not just weopens. Tanks and lanes are of no use if you can not buy petrol in middle of war due to shortage of money. Troops movement need good road and rail network. Even one may have to buy additional ammunation or a weapon of new kind in middle of war if needed. but presently pakistan should not reduse its defence budget as it is already fighting with TTP. Instead you should use money effectively in both civil and defence budget.
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May 22, 2014 08:59am
@AAhmed Probably yes. But our rulers never dare to tell us what is the average per capita
income of other countries...especially the regional countries....and that grocery items and
medicines are much cheaper than us. We are only told what suits our rulers.
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May 22, 2014 12:26pm
I don't think countries advance on the basis of spending on Defence. Neither countries want war - Countries progress on the how they take people forward. They progress on taking the industries forward.
I think Pakistan is unnecessarily worrying on cross border terrorism from India - they need to spend the money on people otherwise Pakistan will not progress. Another war will mean Pakistan going under severe Debt with ripple effects on your economy.
I would love to see an Indo-Pak match in Pak - However, Pak needs to strengthen internal politics and security - All the best.
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May 22, 2014 06:59pm
@Peace
Maybe we should not "maintain" the "first use nuclear policy" - when do you think we could possibly use it? Can we afford to use it and do you think there will be any survivors? Put this money to better use - for God's sake!
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May 23, 2014 04:06am
Pakistan can spend zero percent of their GDP if they were at peace with India.....India would protect Pakistan from any external threat with it's own military which probably is about ten times the size of the Pakistan one....So Pakistan could reallocate all that defense budget on rural and social development or infrastructure development....It's a win win situation for all involved....Pakistan can then solely spend their time eradicating extremists or terrorists from within who are actually the No.1 enemy....Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are already making use of India's military for ocean patrols etc...It's a wise choice and if Nawaz Sharif visits Modi's swearing in ceremony then what I said above could be a start in that direction....
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May 23, 2014 04:36am
5.7 B, 19.1 or even 37.2.....don't worry about it, huge differences or shortfalls, but we Pakistanis more than make it up with our unflinching valour and determination.
Apni jaa'n nazar karu'n apni wafa pesh karu'n
Qom ke mard-e-mujahid tujhe kya pesh Karu'n
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