Counter Indian military spending, Pakistan urged

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan government was Tuesday urged by a leading newspaper to spend more on military needs so as to counter what it said was an Indian challenge.

Saying that “enemy India” had conducted three missile tests this year, the latest being the supersonic BrahMos, the Nawa-i-Waqt complained that Pakistan had not done any test in the last three years.

“We seem to have neglected our defence scientists and for the last three years, our government seems to have been oblivious to the country’s defence needs. There is no attention to national security,” an editorial in the Urdu daily said.

“We conducted our last missile test about three years ago. Where have our defence scientists and missile technology experts gone since then?”

The daily accused India of making huge arms purchases from the US, Russia and other countries.

“Pakistan was content with the three F-16s it received from the US, while the US offered the more advanced F-19 to India,” it noted.

“Feeling secure with our nuclear arsenal, we have been neglecting other weapons for the last three years while we need to keep some kind of parity with India,” it said.

Citing BrahMos, the daily said the cruise missile, with a range of 290 km, could travel at thrice the speed of sound.

“They should strive to find something to tackle this threat and India’s fighter planes,” it said.