All four provinces sacrifice budgetary space for defence, says Aamir Ilyas Rana

Pakistan’s four provinces have made significant allocations towards defence-related spending in their budgets, with Punjab alone setting aside Rs650 billion, as the country seeks to strengthen defence production and technology after its recent military confrontation, senior journalist Aamir Ilyas Rana said.

Speaking on a show, Rana said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had indicated after the 27th Amendment that he would sit with Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to discuss the National Finance Commission (NFC), the constitutional mechanism governing the distribution of federal tax revenues among the federation and provinces.

Rana said the increased allocations reflected the financial burden associated with national defence and argued that Pakistan would need to continue investing in defence production and advanced military technology.

“These are obviously our expenses, and we won a war, but there could be another war,” Rana said. “We have to increase our defence production and technology.”

He pointed out that Pakistan could not rely on nuclear weapons for every potential conflict, arguing that their primary purpose was deterrence rather than battlefield use.

“Nuclear weapons cannot be used. We do not want to destroy the world,” Rana said. “We need other advanced weapons.”

He also observed that Pakistan had not used technology associated with the country’s nuclear programme during the recent conflict.

“We haven’t even used Abdul Qadeer Khan’s invention this time in the war,” he said, referring to the late Pakistani nuclear scientist who played a central role in the country’s nuclear programme.

His comments come as the government prepares to make what Rana described as major announcements on August 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day.

Rana has disclosed that the announcements were expected to be linked to the country’s defence capabilities and technological development.

He added that a planned August 14 parade had been postponed because of weather conditions, but said that the postponement willl not prevent the government from making the announcements.

Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is officially maintained as a deterrent against external threats, while defence production and technological development remain key components of the country’s broader security planning, according to Rana’s remarks.