what good is the equipment if its not available??, look at f-16s, had PAF opted for mirage 2000 for example, the ultimate benefit would have been more, though i agree mirage is nearly twice as expensive as f-16 but you could have grabbed the used mirages by now with probable customization and home production(As we did we mirage3/5) which you cannot with f-16s
i still stand by that the deal was ill thought of, as noone can grantee ZULU availability, had USA decided to wrap up its work from Afghanistan(which was trump instinct, an he might sill do it as the Russians did) than you would have seen some pressure on Pakistan(i.e blaming us as soon as govt in afghn post withdraw would fall) and i wouldn't have been surprised if you had a blockade of equipment as Nigeria had, even though Nigeria was also fighting terrorists.
the perfect replacement could have been t129, it will be less likley to put blockage when a third vendor is invovled as it would complicate things for turkey or even better the z10s