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, reported ADN.

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.

Likewise, the navy bought ships and accessories worth USD 358 million in 2021 as compared to USD 145 million the previous year. Although the air force had not made any big-ticket purchases in the past few years, its budget for drones and sensors from China has increased. In 2021, it imported sensors worth USD 25 million, a sharp rise of USD 15 million from 2020.

Pakistan has also released a National Cyber Security Policy in 2021 which indicates an increasing budgetary outlay for increasing its capability in the cyber as well as artificial intelligence domain. The recent air force purchase of a Drone Jx gun from China indicates the new thrust.