@m_waqas. Thanks, I think you explained it better
@genius83. Remember half of the life of our country politicians have not ruled it, in fact they never ruled it and still power has not been transferred to people of Pakistan. And here is the defence budget which is made public, but the money spent on strategic programmes is much much more and never declared and with the little amount left for the Public Sector Development Programme and then further cuts in hardly leaves any sizable amount to improve the lives of 168 million people of Pakistan, 30 percent of whom live below the poverty line, they are in fact paying for our fancy hardware. We need to address their needs as well otherwise "enemy within" would be more lethal than the perceived threat from outside.
The country is already on the oxygen mask provided by IMF and aid from US and can go bankrupt anytime they withdraw their support. If US does not provide us spares, then for how long we will be able to fly these expensive American birds?
<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="news_story" align="left" valign="top"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript"> var siteArea ="pakistan"; document.write("" + siteArea.toUpperCase() + "
"); </script>PAKISTAN
Defence budget jacked up by 10 per cent
By Iftikhar A Khan
Saturday, 13 Jun, 2009 | 10:47 PM PST |
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</td> </tr> <tr><td class="news_story" align="left" valign="top"> ISLAMABAD: The defence budget for 2009-10 has been projected at Rs343 billion, showing an increase of ten per cent against the revised estimates for defence affairs and services in the outgoing fiscal year.
Originally an amount of Rs 296 billion had been allocated for defence in 2008-2009, but the actual spending went up by Rs14 billion to Rs 311 billion.
The major chunk of the budget amounting to over Rs 341.62 billion would go under the head of military defence. An amount of Rs 295 billion had been earmarked for military defence in the previous budget whereas the actual expenditure crossed Rs 308 billion.
Rs 1.28 billion have been allocated for defence administration as against the projection of Rs 1.17 billion in the previous budget and spending exceeding Rs 2.8 billion.
An official told Dawn that the increase in defence had become inevitable due to internal as well as external threats facing the country. They said there can be no compromise on the issues of national security. He said Pakistan was committed to maintain minimum credible deterrence and all possible steps would be taken to meet the requirements of the armed forces of the country to meet the contemporary challenges.
Minister of State for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar in her budget speech pointed out that the new federal budget was being presented at a time when the country was facing serious economic problems and security challenges.
She said Pakistan had not only become a front line state in the war against terror but was also waging an internal war against militancy. She said the country had already incurred an economic cost of 35 billion dollars in the war against terror and it was also expending heavy amounts to get rid off militancy.
An amount little over Rs 115 billion has been allocated for salaries, allowances and other employee related expenses as against the revised estimates of the Rs 99.15 billion in the outgoing fiscal year. The sources said this had been done in the wake of the government’s decision to increase salaries of armed forces personnel from July 1.
As per announcement of the President, personnel of the armed forces deployed on the Western front would get an increase in their allowance equal to their one month basic salary from first of next month. Other personnel of the armed forces would get the benefit from January next year.
In the interim period they will get fifteen per cent ad-hoc relief allowance which will cease to be payable after 31st of December this year.
An amount of Rs 92.21 billion has been set aside for operating expenses, a slight increase over the revised estimates of budget 2008-09. Rs 107 billion have been allocated for physical assets as against revised estimate of Rs 88.31 billion in the outgoing year.
An amount of Rs 27 billon has been earmarked for civil works. The budgetary projection under the head in 2008-09 was Rs 87.63 billion which went upto Rs 88.31 billion in the revised estimates.
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