Pakistan In Panic Mode: Defence Budget Soars 20% Amid Operation Sindoor Fallout And Economy in Dolldrums

New Delhi: Pakistan appears to have gone into panic mode following the fallout of India’s Operation Sindoor. In a striking move, Islamabad is set to increase its defence spending to 20%.

In its annual budget, Pakistan has reportedly allocated PKR 2,550 billion towards defence, making it the second-highest budgetary allocation after interest payments, which stand at PKR 8,207 billion. The move comes in the wake of Operation Sindoor, a recent cross-border military response by India targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), following the Pahalgam terror attack. 

The sharp increase in defence funding is seen by analysts as Pakistan’s reactionary posture to mounting security pressure from India. Amid this turmoil, a revealing moment came during an interview between Sky News journalist Yalda Hakim and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman. 

The discussion was focused on Pakistan’s recent exit from the FATF grey list. Rehman’s responses were seen as a veiled acknowledgment of Pakistan’s problematic legacy of harboring extremist elements an issue that has dogged the country’s international credibility for decades.