Investment in high-level R+D would be the best root for Pakistan to follow in the long run, quite similar to that of Turkiye. This is due to the fact that the natural resources possessed by the country are in fact very low, so technological advancements should be our main strength, marking our dominance in the region.
I think it's pretty much a matter of a dying breed.
As meritocracy begins to fizzle out and nepotism takes place (as seen with Bajwa), the quality of the COAS will only drop further.
Heating up the ongoing war with India is definitely an iffy topic, especially when taking into account the economic situation. Afghanistan's slow advance will begin to render them more of an enemy as time goes on, due to the need to perform ops on their sovereign soil.
As for the PN and PAF advancement, I greatly agree.
The usage of superior technology within warfare should be focused on, rather than the usage of superior manpower, as seen in the WOT which was fought a bit too conventionally, with outdated styles of troop advancements.
This is actually quite annoying, seeing that he launched a large op within a week of his appointment to the position of COA
The main issue is that pretty much all internal ops have been offloaded to PA. WOT and the like barely had any usage of PN's tech
I think the generic idea is that combined arms are not being used in the project to eradicate the BLA, and adequate technology is not being used either, whilst it is possessed.
Surely this is an escalation that isn't really necessary?
And wouldn't maintaining this level of warfare be unfeasible, especially when taking into account the economic situation and the sourcing of aircraft parts?
For the first part of R&D, think about it. what actually happened ?
Whenever a Pakistani becomes an expat and goes abroad to earn money, what does he invest in back in Pakistan ? The real estate. He will buy a plot, or plots or land or house, just something to do with property. Now you could say that Thanks to DHA (which unofficially regulates the real estate market of Pakistan), the investment in property always brings good dividends so it is/was a considered a safe investment.
The drawback was everybody went after "safe" investment, the risky investment was "R&D", which even engineers, IT specialists, coders, programmers, developers etc could have done but no one did. Everybody bought property. A bummer.
Second part, the members on PDF want to make everything political, so they run after CJCSC that he should be from PAF and PN, but look at the force itself. What it can offer and what it offers ? PAF and PN offers more technological advancements than Army in few domains of electronics like surveillance, intelligence, information warfare, electronic warfare etc. PAF has specialized aircraft while PN has specialized aircrafts and vessels. PA puts those goodies on a UAV and there you go.
Still, PAF and PN have ground elements in terms of Specialized and infantry Ops in the form of SSW, SSG(N) and Marines. The coastline has become the responsibility of Marines, maybe in a few years time they will get complimented with amphibious assault capability on a company level (100 troops). Pakistan Navy has a n airfield in Turbat (Naval Air Station PNS Siddiq in Baluchistan) and PAF has Shamsi airbase, apart from Samungli in Quetta.
Coming to the COAS, he has started an ops against TTP in KPK, which was kind of expected. When I was in Pakistan, I had a talk with a few people and was told that Intel was on ground pre-march and that Ops started in march, I think I mentioned that at many places on the forum. ISPR confirmed Ops in April. This is one active front with Intel, SF and FC involved along with few regular battalions. The parallel step is widening intel circle inside Afghanistan, which is working effectively already especially in taking out TTP elements (mostly without Taliban help, some sympathizers of Pakistan in the form of few tribal leaders still exist). Third is the Ops against BLA, which is covered somewhat on the border with Afghanistan and inside Baluchistan at some points only. Now comes the front against India. There are three fronts already opened like I mentioned, which require most of ISI resources engaged in these ops. The fourth front would be LOC and then extended Kashmir, this has gone cold at the moment. Logically so, since that would be jumping from COIN war to conventional war. That means stretching SSG and LCBs since regular infantry battalions and NG battalions are on defensive on LOC. For an effective Ops, ISI resources will need to be allocated for Kashmir ops who are deployed in KPK, Baluchistan, Afghanistan and other sensitive locations inside Pakistan. So logically, COAS is progressing correctly. Its still debatable though but then Pakistan Army is not US Army that many salient can be opened simultaneously - on the offensive.
The issue is that CAS and CNS have to take the initiative based on the capabilities of their own forces. This is possible but its not about military training and so called "mediocrity" (which is over-used BS term). It has been seen continuously that command and leadership method of all COASs are different, same goes for CAS and CNS. This is reflected in the expansion of the forces also, e.g look how PAF expanded and how PN expanded in comparison with Army, the equipment they bought, the training their officers and troops went through etc. While PAF's role is to support Army and Navy, as well as defend the skies, the Navy's role has been limited to the coast and the seas however that AB in Turbat though brings redundancy away from Indian missile strikes from land or sea, still provides a launching pad for COIN Ops or ops on the border against Afghanistan and Iran. PN has been expanding Marines side by side along with modernizing its vessels and buying new subs, just like PAF has been inducting JFT, UAVs and J-10. The numbers are swelling up, their role needs to be expanded now.
If PAF is taken for example, a new squadron was raised for Mirages (50th Squadron), similarly for JF-17 new squadrons were raised. Probably, its time to raise 4 x squadrons for UCAV which would enhance PAF's strike capability instead of relying on Mirages and F-16 for strike roles which was seen in previous Ops. This frees up all aircrafts for AD duties also in case of a conventional war with India. It also brings down the fuel, maintenance and other operational overheads since for some drones different kinds of fuel is required for flying. Then the safety of pilots is also another factor.
IMHO, PAF's and PN's role will be expanded in coming years, but its the PN which should take the lead as it has more ground component than PAF while its air component can be enhanced through seconded PAF's older JFTs, if not Mirages as its naval vessels steadily grow in numbers side by side. The ground reality is that there are so many LEAs on the ground already that even Army is not required for full deployment in troubled places.