Another 5.2 billion of debt – for defence?
Today, the Pakistan Military announced that it had successfully tested the Hatf IV Shaheen 1A ballistic missile. The Shaheen A1 is an improved version of the Shaheen- 1 with better range (said to be around 2500-3000km) and better accuracy. But the thing is, was this necessary? The test was in response to India’s Agni V, but is an arms race with India worth it when we are in such dire economic straits?
I firmly belief, that it the right and the duty of the Pakistan army to take all possible measures for the defense of the nation, even if it involves unpopular decisions. But Pakistan’s missile technology is already advanced enough to deter any potential enemies, so why is money, which could have gone to education or health care, being spent in developing new missile systems! Even assuming that Pakistan can go to war with India any moment (which is highly unlikely), our Ghouri-II and Shaheen-II missiles, with ranges of around 2000-2500 km can easily cover India.
Just a few days back, our Finance Minister Hafez Shaikh completed a tour of the US where he successfully begged the US, UK, IMF, World Bank and others for money, finally announcing that Pakistan would be getting $5.2 billion. Around the same time, it was also in the news that Pakistan might need the IMF’s help to pay off its existing debts. So ladies and gentlemen, at a time when we are already under debt of more than $65 Billion, when the Pakistani economy is barely limping along at a meager growth rate of 2.9%, at a time when the country is facing long spells of load shedding, when the common man has been trampled underfoot by inflation, do you think it right to spend so much money on a technology we already possess?
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Well certainly we can’t just turn our back to the realities we have.With a hostile neighbor next to our borders it would be a disaster to cut our fundings on defense.Apart from it, the economy can be turned around if we have better law and order situation.Despite the country being in an economic ICU we do have resources to propel defense budget which is spent to make a protection shield for our very existence.The economy is limping not because Pakistan has not much to offer but due to incompetent and dishonest leadership plus the administration.
Read the article again man, before going on a rant. What I’m saying that Pakistan already had India covered with existing missiles and it’s a waste of money to develop or test new ones. You may well point out that this one has a better accuracy than its predecessors but the truth remains that Pakistan simply can not afford an arms race with India. Pakistanis must get over their delusions of conquering India because the best we can hope for is to have a decent deterrence capability, which we already posess.
You need to understand that Pakistan army has never considered the conquest of India, all policies have been aimed at deterring India. No general would aim for military supremacy against a force over twice its size so regardless of what you have been told or whatever you have come to think, deterrence is always the aim as far as Pakistan goes.
Its not a matter of "Ok so we have India covered so no need to further improve on our existing technologies". Show of strength is a recognized military tactic used to sometimes to maintain "deterrence". Its a way of communicating to any probable enemy that interest has not been lost in strengthening self defense so any adventure into sovereign territory would be met with quick response. So, its not about who has bigger muscles, its about who is maintaining those muscles enough to at least defend itself. Which is what Pakistan and India do when they keep their "show" going.
I see where you are coming from Zaid, but show of strength is hardly the pastime of the poor.
You are right it really isn't. What Pakistan and India need are confidence building measures. Siachen could be a start.
Although we have advance technology that covers all India. we should spend more in order to make our missile technology more accurate then past… We should keep in mind Idian is not only enemy. We must test fire TAIMUR missile that have the range more than 7000KM so that we Will be able to threat ISRAEL.Israelians are investing on our media, facts are found that show Isreal is involved in Balochstan. Fake talibans are funded by Israel. Defence is more important then the education at this time.