LAHORE: Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday hinted at raising the defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26 following the recent escalation with India and New Delhi’s suspension of decade-long water-sharing Indus Water Treaty.
The minister was talking with reporters after meeting a delegation at the Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP), led by its Secretary General Engr Ameer Zameer in Lahore.
The planning minister declared that the budget had not been delayed due to any pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s upcoming visit to friendly nations and the Eidul Azha holidays.
“We had very good meetings and negotiations with the IMF and as you’ve seen, they acknowledged our government’s efforts”, the minister asserted, adding the main reason behind the delay in budget was the PM’s five-day visit to friendly countries … and Eid after that.
Earlier this month, the minister had announced that the federal budget would be presented on June 2, however, Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad said yesterday that the budget would be presented on June 10, while the Pakistan Economic Survey would be released a day earlier.
“We decided to present the budget after Eid so that we can easily convene a meeting of parliament afterwards,” he added.
Iqbal said that the government wants to minimise the burden on the general public, but noted that defence spending would increase to protect Pakistan’s sovereignty.
“It is our national duty to provide the armed forces with whatever they need in this budget to bolster their capacity and defend our country in the future,” the minister said. “It has been proven that we have a dangerous neighbour (India) who attacked us in the night, but we gave them a befitting response.”
He added that the country must “remain ready to respond if they attack again”.
Speaking about Pakistani water security, Iqbal said that the country will fast-track water projects, including the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams.
“We are prioritising them so that Pakistani water is secure,” he said.
“The PM has sent over a thousand agricultural engineers to China for training, who will complete their training this year and bring about an agricultural Green Revolution 2.0,” he explained. “We aim to develop our own seeds and modernise our dairy and livestock sectors.”
Iqbal added that within the budget, funding has been allocated for an internship for engineers. “Thousands of young engineers across the country will be able to receive on-the-job training so that they receive better job opportunities in the market.”
However, he stated that Pakistan would only have a development budget of Rs1 trillion to do all of this.
“Our ministers required Rs3tr to complete our ongoing projects. But, because of this shortfall, we are putting a cap on low-priority projects and will try to complete our high-priority projects as quickly as possible.
When asked about political relations with the PTI and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Iqbal emphasized the need for unity among all political actors.
Criticising the PTI, he said, “When we passed the 26th Constitutional Amendment, we tried to take all parties on board and reach a consensus. But when the PTI took this to their founder, he vetoed it.
“Similarly, when the nation is standing behind Field Marshal Asim Munir’s leadership, look at the statements the PTI founder is giving about him,” Iqbal added. “At a time when we need national solidarity, he is only thinking about retaliation.”
