So, if you take a look at the population of US (330 Mil) or at a lower level to Brazil or Indonesia or Russia or South Korea, the population size can be compared but not the GDP yet obviously. So, it tells me that if the economy grows and becomes over half of Brazil's or South Korea's or Indonesia's or Russia's, I don't see why pumping 5-8 billion per year more into the defense. industry would be an issue. Pak can never match India plane by plane or person by person. It can however introduce new generation procurements in enough numbers to defend itself properly.
JFT is an example of that. Block III will be different in comparison.
I don't care what someone says, I'd rather deploy a decent platform in numbers that I can afford and it can fire at will vs. either 30 year old planes that'll have issues, or a more expensive platform where either I am paying money to someone else or there is a chance that it won't fire or even fly when needed due to sanctions. A gun is a gun, you can take the chance of standing in front of it thinking it's inferior and it 'may' misfire or you keep yourself at bay with your fancy gun as you fear losses. Hope this helps.
Pakistan's first priority now should be to advance JFT with a more powerful engine, BVR and produce electronics in house. AND master SD-10 / BVR technology and employ it in large numbers as SAM / ABM through modified platform of Shaheen 1.