Islamabad, Feb 8 (PTI) Underlining that Pakistan government and the Army are enjoying a period of "unprecedented coordination", a senior minister has ruled out any cut in the country's defence budget and said it could instead increase for the national security.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in a press conference after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday said the country's defence budget is already low as compared to other countries in the region, and therefore it should be increased.
Asked about the government's austerity measures to reduce running expenditures by 10 per cent, he said, "Some people have problems about the defence budget and try to make it an issue. However, they don't know that our defence budget is already lower than that of other states in the region, including India."
"We want to increase our defence and security; therefore we need to increase our defence budget and for that purpose we want to generate more revenue."
Chaudhry said the government and the Army were enjoying a period of unprecedented coordination.
Pakistan's current defence expenditure is about Rs 1 trillion.
