The only thing that makes sense is buying more F-16s, buying the J-11,J10 makes no sense The J-10 isn't proven (neither is the JF-17 but having 2 unproven aircraft makes no sense), The J-11 would be a logistical nightmare, I think the PAF needs to use the JF-17 as a bargaining chip for countries who are operating the F-16s, perhaps selling the JF-17s with some supporting infrastructure will allow PAF to buy F-16s for throw away prices from countries like Venezuela, indonesia, Oman and Egypt.
There is an opportunity for PAF to learn from automobile sector. Brands like Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan etc are all comparable and target same potential market. Their business comes from adopting secondary strategies. They earn less in direct sale but earn more from parts, service and selling you secondary goods like add-ons and extended warranties. Point is that once your platform w is sold, you get continuous earning in the form of service, gadgets, add-on and upgrades. Thus selling a platform at less direct profit will be the right strategy.
For Aviation Industry of China/Pakistan, the challenge is not just to sell a dependable platform but to changing the defense paradigms of customer nations. USA and Russia are two main resource countries and creating a perception that China/Pakistan (or India for example) is another reliable resource is a big asking in itself. It is not just about the performance of a platform but who else is using that platform also matters. PAF was able to keep its F-16 fleet working because there were countries who were using F-16s and despite direct sanctions from the supplier, customer nations were able to help and our platform kept operating. Friendly nations sharing such platform also help you in training and building tactics and for a defense/offense platform, that is valuable.
Countries evaluating JF-17 will be thinking about 10s of parameters including performance, cost, potential, upgrade, freedom of use, training, support in the case of war, sustainability and strategic aspects. We should have no doubt about the performance of JF-17 that PAF is turning down J-10s after having own it - but lets not forget that for other nations, its not just the platform, economy or performance but the purchase equation has several equally valuable components which need to be satisfied - as well.
I am sure whoever evaluates JF-17 would be asking "why should I not buy used F-16s from USA for $18 million a piece instead" ? If you can satisfy this answer first, you can start talking about performance, cost and other good aspects of JF-17s.