Quote
At a seminar organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Rana Tanveer Hussain, Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Production (and Minister of Science and Technology), said that Pakistan had reduced its defence imports by 90% over the past three years (
Business Recorder).
Emphasizing the need to source domestically, Hussain told seminar participants that his ministry reduced the number of federally issued ‘no-objection certificates’ (NOC) for imported goods from 1000 to 100.
The minister also called for an increase in the domestic research and development budget – currently at 0.29% of Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) to at least one percent of the country’s GDP by 2018.
Unquote.
The minister never said that we manufacture 90% of Defence requirements. Reduction in imports can be the result of the substitution by local production, lack of requirement and lack of funds or a combination of all the three. In no way it can be translated to mean that Pakistan produce 90% of the Defence requirements locally. Most of the posts however imply that we only need to import 10% of our defence requirements.
Let us start with JF-17. Pakistan is importing engines from Russia & avionics from China. All the missiles are also imported from China. How can we say that it only has 10% imported components?
In case of Pak army, situation is a bit better but still all the helicopters and their spare parts are imported. Engine & drive train of the Al-Khalid is also imported. Naval situation is worse. Our Augusta Submarines are upgraded in Turkey. Most of the ships are made abroad or assembled from the imported components. Helicopters & fixed wing planes are all imported.
Either I am so stupid that I cannot find the 90% which supposed to be made indigenously or my countrymen are so much used to wishful thinking that they interpret every official declaration as a reason for jumping with joy. On reflection it is I who must be stupid.