The Indian army has been downsizing, slowly, but it is. While the PA is never going to face the entirety of the IA, regardless of the size of the two forces, when it comes to mass mobilization, Pakistan will always fall behind. So I understand why PA needs to be rather large.
My point is that small-scale skirmishes seem to be not only more common but also more possible between the two nations than all out war, so maybe quality over quantity can be helpful there, especially when funds are this short. It’s still a miracle PA manages to keep a balance despite the shortages, but for how long? The economy doesn’t seem to be getting better any time soon.
Plus I don’t think PA should start reducing the amount of regiments or active troops it has, my point about downsizing is more specifically related to a sort of curse that many Pakistani organizations suffer from, they’re bloated, they have more people to do a certain thing than required, or certain people for no task at all, and often times this leads to said thing being done worst than it would with just one person responsible for it. I think with some reorganization PA can downsize efficiently by assigning more tasks to lesser people, there might be some workplace complaints though.
To add to that, With better equipment, the same 500K troops might be able to achieve more and cover more area, reduce casualty rates and increase mobility, than maybe 600K troops with lesser equipment? There’s definitely a balance to be had, I’m not sure if we’re at said balance right now.
