Can Pakistan’ economy, with a per capita income of only $1,200, afford such a luxury of buying weapons?
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: As per a recently-published report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) — an independent resource on global security — Pakistan is among the top five importers of major conventional weapons during the period between 2008 and 2012. The other top four importers are also from Asia — India (12 per cent of global imports), China (six per cent), South Korea (five per cent) and Singapore (four per cent). Pakistan’s share was five per cent of the total global weapons import. Can Pakistan’ economy, with a per capita income of only $1,200, afford such a luxury. I would call it a luxury because when a country’s power sector cannot produce enough electricity to run its industry, and when government-run education is in the doldrums, when most development projects are either on hold or have been delayed, when the condition of health centres has worsened, when millions of people are still deprived of clean water — and all this is happening due to lack of funds (and bad governance) — can we still afford to import that many weapons.
There is no weight in the logic that we have to keep a minimum deterrent level to balance the threat faced from India. We are a sovereign country and what is and what is not important for us should be decided on rational grounds. I hope the new government has the courage to take the country towards stability, wherein such a stockpile of weapons will not remain necessary. When we cannot change our neighbours, then we have to learn to live together.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2013.
