'Voluntary defence budget cut not at the cost of security'

Irrespective of the voluntary cut in defence budget [for the] coming financial year (FY), there shall be no impact on our response potential to all types of threat and quality of life of the soldiers, clarified COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa in an ISPR press release shared by Major-General Asif Ghafoor, the director-general of ISPR. He told the soldiers that the 'no pay raise' decision applied only for officers and not for soldiers. "We shall manage the shortfall by tightening our belt in areas where it doesn't affect the two aforesaid aspects," he said.

COAS spent Eid with troops along LOC. “Best Eid for a soldier is to have pride for being on duty of defending the motherland even on such festive days away from family. For defenders of Pakistan, our first family is the Pakistani nation, then the ones back home”, COAS. pic.twitter.com/JHwNmGwjUW

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) June 5, 2019

The army chief spent Eid with troops along the Line of Control. “Best Eid for a soldier is to have pride for being on duty of defending the motherland even on such festive days away from family. For defenders of Pakistan, our first family is the Pakistani nation, then the ones back home,” he said. Earlier, the ISPR DG had tweeted that the voluntary cuts in the defence budget for a year would not be at the cost of defence and security.

Voluntary cut in def budget for a year will not be at the cost of def & security. We shall maint effective response potential to all threats.Three services will manage impact of the cut through appropriate internal measures. It was imp to participate in dev of tribal areas & Bln.

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) June 4, 2019

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had lauded the “unprecedented voluntary initiative of stringent cuts” by the Pakistan Army, in view of the country’s critical financial situation. The prime minister was particularly appreciative of the armed forces’ decision, in view of the “multiple security challenges” confronting the nation. Follow SAMAA English on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.