Defence of the nation

As the budget for the next fiscal year occupies the attention of planners, the Defence Ministry has moved rapidly, seeking more funds — a whopping 18.4 per cent more than the amount allocated for defence last year. The ministry has given the National Assembly a briefing on the rising needs for security. The scenario is, of course, a familiar one for all of us who have through the years seen the armed services walk away with more and more of the budgetary pie. At this particular moment, so soon after the fiasco at Abbottabad, when US aircraft were able to enter and leave our territory undetected, the demand seems especially galling. Many citizens are asking quite what the military does for the citizens of the country anyway, given the continued inability to defeat militants or keep our borders safe.

Following a tradition set many years ago and strengthened by the long periods of rule we have endured under military dictators, such ‘requests’ have usually been honoured. There are indications this may indeed happen again, with the Chairperson of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance Fauzia Wahab saying the proposed budget outlay of Rs495 billion for defence may be increased. The response is unsurprising and to a degree understandable. But as a nation, we need to rethink the national security paradigm we have based policy around and reconsider if it is really doing us much good at all.

We need to learn to put the interests of people ahead of all else. The armed forces have yet to accept that there can be no security until the future of the people is secure. It is the collective task of politicians and civil society to drive this message home. There are mindsets in many places that need to be altered. To build a future for ourselves, we must also provide people with services in the health and education sectors, among others, to help them live with dignity. The armed forces, as a truly patriotic institution, should be offering to cut their own spending to help others. If funds for development cannot be found, we will continue to live in a state of perpetual peril from which no amount of spending on conventional defence needs can offer us safety.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2011.