asaad-ul-islam
SENIOR MEMBER
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Fine mate, valid point.
Mate, the part that Pakistan has was taken over before the Indian Army ever got there. It is when Pakistan started occupying land there, that the Indian Army was asked to enter. When Pakistan entered, it was a free walk with only the King's troops there, nothing much to talk about!
What i mean is that since the time Kashmir acceded to India, no amount of direct or indirect military force has been able to take Kashmir away. No country in the subcontinent or for that matter even in the continent has the wherewithal(military) to actually physically remove Kashmir from India by force.
This is the one issue that unites Pakistan as well as the extremists who are on the warpath against the Pakistani state. It serves as a rallying point. I'd say it is of great significance especially now.
And i dont find this article saying that India wants Musharraf to stay. It only says that if Musharraf goes, there will be a political vacuum. And isnt it right? You tell me mate, as of now, the civilian government isnt exactly calling all the shots, its not the real center of power.
Mate, Pakistan and India have been at it for a long time now, and this includes the very recent Kargil War. It wont hurt India half as much as it would hurt Pakistan. India has the money and economy to sustain an arms race, Pakistan doesnt. As a direct consequence, Pakistan will ask for military aid/help from US/China, which would further compromise its sovereignty. I dont wish to flame at this point, but you dont see the US attacking Indian territories without permission. Neither would they in the future. Pakistan has paid a great price in its desire to match India gun for gun till now.
Sure, Pakistan is a threat, but not near to what it was a decade ago or what it was prior to that. India has moved beyond Pakistan, two factors count here-economy and military. In relative terms, Pakistan isnt close to what it was matching India like it did in the prior decades. Pakistan will truely have to practice minimum credible detterence now, because till last decade, Pakistan not only had minimum credible detterence, it was an equal military to match India.
As things get more and more expensive, Pakistan will have to have a minimum deterrence as opposed to an equal military machine.
No mate, that used to be true some time back, not any more. All the things you mention are already on order including RFP's already released. None of the equipment is in the planning stages, all of it is in the tendering process, from new arty guns to planes, from carriers to subs. Its either under construction or in the tendering stage, no vague plans. You know, it will fructify, and at this point, Pakistan does not have the money to match even half the things.
You have seriously fallen prey to the Indian media reports. The Indian CoAS played on the public sentiment to get the MRCA tender released soon. Allow me to ask you a simple question, if the Indian AF levels are declining because of retiring old platforms, dont you think Pakistani AF too has to retire its old planes? The letter of the CoAS was absolutely brilliant-he deliberately removed all of India's old planes from the equation while still keeping Pakistan's current strength and added its intended acquisitions!
The imbalance in the Airforce is also rising mate.
Its not that simple about attacking another country mate. There was a serious flaw in the military machine. The mobilization took around 2 months! A ridiculously high time. That flaw is being rectified.
Thats Kashmir's problem. I'd rather Jammu and Leh/Ladakh not suffer because of Kashmir. I say make Jammu a new state with Leh/Ladakh as its part and make Kashmir valley a Union Terrority. Remove Article 370, then we will really see some change.
Malay, I think your viewpoint is a bit outdated. Pakistan did not have military parity last decade, it wasn't even close. I think the term "the lost decade" justifies that.
currently, pakistan army is "NATO-standard" well-equipped and very well trained. a lot of our equipment is being produced indigenously now, no longer do we have to suffer from sanctions in military conflicts like in the past. our army is significantly larger than it was in the past, not to mention the vast numbers of irregulars who willingly serve without pay in times of emergency.
as i mentioned before, budget is never a problem for the military, remember that. whether we drain the economy and lead the country to bankruptcy, is totally irrelevant when it comes to security. after the 1965 war, a large chunk of the annual budget went to the military until this period. believe me, money is never a problem and if it ever is, we have the certain "trump cards" from the private sector and other friendly-muslim countries.
don't think this will be anything like the US-Soviet arms race where the other country went bankrupt. pakistan has been doing this for a while now with debt and sanctions, it's still here and not going anywhere anytime soon.
as for our airforce, there hasn't been any better period in the past. free MLU-ed F-16's, new F-16's, at least 36 J-10's (this number will definitely go up), 150-250 JF-17's, Erieye, and our own indigenous AWACS. as far as I can see here, Pakistan has increased the size of its military in all wings unlike in the past when our numbers were much lower.
neither country will go into an all-out war, it would be too costly on both sides. india can't use everything in her arsenal, it has to worry about the nuclear threat and China.