It all stems from the old “PAF wasn’t there over Lahore in 71 as in 65” . Cities are irrelevant metric, strategic assets and positions are. From that perspective symbolic places are important to overall national morale and it is highly unlikely they will be sacrificed but if it turns out an Indian fighter strolled over Lahore and the Hq9 or anything else didn’t fire or respond immediately because they were directed to more important strategic objectives then the same idiots will go whining.
Na na.. they can’t get over “Lahore Lahore ay” and it will be next to kufr to admit they are wrong without realizing the overall strategic implications of where one concentrates assets. Interestingly, the coverage map I put as hypothetical does actually cover lahore as it falls under the umbrella of other key strategic sites the HQ-9 could protect.There's a debate going on the sidelines of the HQ-9 induction regarding air defence in Karachi and Lahore. Team Lahore has gone a bit sentimental talking about the cultural and historical significance of Lahore and it being a population hub, basically all of the things that don't matter in air defence.
First, let's analyze what air defence is primarily used to defend:
- Airbases
- Defence Production Facilities
- Cantonments
- Strategic Infrastructure
- Arms Depots
- Nuclear facilities.
Now, let's do the required comparison.
Lahore
IV Corps HQ
Lahore Cantt
Allama Iqbal International Airport
Karachi-Peshawar Railway Line
Major Locomotive Works
Karachi
V Corps HQ
Karachi Cantt
Malir Cantt
Jinnah International Airport
PAF Base Malir
PAF Base Korangi Creek
PAF Airbase Faisal (Karachi's airbases are tasked with defence of Southern Sindh)
PAF Airbase Masroor (All of PAF's Naval Squadrons)
PAF Airbase Bholari (close proximity)
Port of Karachi
Port of Bin Qasim
Petroleum Facilities at Port Bin Qasim
Beginning Point of Karachi-Peshawar Railway Line
Karachi Shipyard And Engineering Works
PN Facilities at Manora
Navy Dockyards (Primary Naval Base, a little searching on Google Maps would make clear its importance)
Kanupp II and III
Major installations related to our jawab if India goes naughty
I understand that the Karachi-Lahore rivalry will never die, but please leave your petty sympathies and politics at home when discussing defense. O7.
Sidenote:
All areas of Pakistan deserve to be defended equally. This post was just a comparison to make clear priorities.
Aww .. did I hurt your feelings that you nearly bludgeoned your keyboard to death?Your little insecurities and genocidal tendencies wouldn't do that much good to you!. It's useless to argue with your insanity. Around 1/5th of the Pakistan's population lives in 2 big cities and you are willing to sacrifice them for what? It's not 1940s or 60s anymore.
For rest of the members:
A country like Pakistan who has to threaten to attack another small country thousands of kilometers away just for its own survival, while having highly questionable power projection attributes of those sorts defines the posture it has to continuously maintain to survive.
Pakistan since its inception has been severely at the disadvantage in terms of the size of its military, land mass and available manpower against its much larger next door rival, India. To counter that disadvantage we have survived this long by just sheer aggression, firepower and preemptive strikes into enemy's territories. Countless Great Men have sacrificed their lives to attack indian military infrastructure within hostile territory to blunt their attack and fought valiantly to defend their homeland and people.
Present Situation:
For past few decades Pakistan has been in major geographical and demographical dilemma. Most of our major population centers, major cities, vital civilian and military infrastructure is very close to the eastern border and under ever increasing danger of being wiped out due to proliferation of advanced missiles, land and air launched stand off precision guided weapons in the region for the past few decades.
The balance of military size, population and landmass depth would already be massively in India's favor and there isn't much left for us to afford to loose nor we would have the space to make any mistake in any calculations or commit blunders. Militaries around the globe are kept and paid to defend and fight.
If we wish to ever win against that huge enemy then we would have to take out 10 of their civilians for each of our civilian casualty and 7 of their soldiers against each of our soldier get martyred to shift that huge imbalance to somewhat in our favor. Similar conditions applies to equipment and infrastructure losses. That's why aggression is a compulsion to survive. That's why we had to do nuclear tests in response and recently destroy their trees in response to the loss of our trees. And developed full spectrum nuclear deterrence including tactical Nuclear missiles. We don't have any effective reserves or vast landmass to maneuver and keep retreating to. All of our force is committed at or very near the front lines.
Pakistan has many fault lines and vulnerabilities due to the aforementioned reasons. And if India ever manages to inflict damage at massive scale or incursions slightly deep into our territory then there would be no point of return for Pakistan. The balance of power would shift further more towards India. If India manages to do China cuttings within Pakistan's territory then a domino effect would ensue further and it won't stop anytime soon. They wouldn't have to attack your beloved concrete of Port or its adjacent factory or a road leading to it. It would be game over by then. Conventional militaries aren't that much efficient in fighting like resistance guerilla war style and guerilla warfare is an insult and disgrace by itself. Massive losses in men, equipment and/or land witout being able to inflict damage at least half a dozen times more in return then its already game over. Wars dont tend to last long in this part of the continent.
And after all this if you somehow mange to survive and gain control of couple of towns in Rajhistan desert. It won't be that much of intrinsic value to trade them with far more better territories of Punjab in post war negotiations.
And that concludes my last post in response. Hope sanity prevails.
Look, Im sure there will be ample air defense coverage for Lahore so you and family can be safe.. go hug them and fear not.
