The featured image shows J-35 Chinese high-tech warplanes Pakistan reportedly plans to buy
Pakistan on Tuesday said it will ramp up its defense spending by 20% to $9 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal year in the backdrop of a deadly conflict with India last month.
However, Islamabad’s defense hike will mean the country will have to reduce allocations for development projects.
“This budget is being presented at a very important and historic moment when the nation in recent days showed extraordinary unity, determination and strength,” Aurangzeb said.
He was referring to the recent military confrontation with India, in which the militaries of the two nations exchanged drone, missile and artillery attacks, with a combined 70 people killed on both sides.
He was unveiling a $62 billion budget proposal in the National Assembly of Pakistan. The budget must be approved by Parliament.
In comparison, India spends nearly $80 billion dollars annually on its defense.
New Delhi has also launched on buying spree of expensive military equipment after the embarrassing loss of its warplanes including the sophisticated French Rafale jets.
It’s not clear yet, how much of the finances will Pakistan devote to acquiring new high-tech big-ticket defense items.
India launched missile strikes into Pakistani cities during the May 7-10 confrontation, the deadliest in decades between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors.
Although, Pakistan shot down five Indian fighter jets and inflicted damage on the Indian side, its defenses were exposed when New Delhi attacked Pakistani airbases including the strategic Nur Khan base.
As per media reports, Islamabad plans to induct Chinese high-tech J-35 fighter jets into its existing fleet.
The 87-hour Pakistan-Indian conflict in May saw one of the largest aerial dogfights in the history when India flew 80 warplanes to target Pakistan sites, which it claimed were terror infrastructure.
The confrontation was triggered by April 22 attack on Indian tourists in Pahlagam in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir Himalayan region. India said the attackers had a link to a Pakistan-based militant group. Islamabad demanded evidence and offered to be part of an international neutral investigation into the incident that killed 26 tourists.
India refused the offer and began the assault on May 7. It was only after President Donald Trump intervened and forced the countries into agreeing on a ceasefire that has lasted so far but tensions in the region remain high.
Islamabad has also accused New Delhi of inflaming insurgency in Balochistan province where Pakistan has built a massive infrastructure in the form of highways, Gwadar port and a modern airport to facilitate trade between regions including the Gulf markets, landlocked-Central Asia and China.
Pakistan and India have fought two full-blown wars and several conflicts, the majority of them over the disputed Kashmir region, which both countries control partly and claim fully.
Their latest conflict is being seen as a test of technologies with Indian using French Rafales and Israeli missiles while Pakistan employing Chinese fighters including JF-17 Thunder and J-10C warplanes.
Being next to each other and with major urban centers and strategic locations in the crosshairs, both nuclear powers have high stakes in boosting their defense capabilities.
