June 20, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 19: The People’s Rights Movement (PRM) has slammed the former government for unprecedented purchase of arms over the past six years as recently uncovered in a report released by the British government.

The PRM, in a statement, said expenditure of more than $6 billion on arms by a cash-strapped regime that was not able to provide its citizens the most basic of amenities spoke volumes about the priorities of the Musharraf government.

It also warned the PPP-led coalition that the people now want a change and are no longer willing to tolerate inordinate military expenditure in the name of “greater national interest”.

Aasim Sajjad of People’s Rights Movement said that for more than 60 years the military establishment garnered majority of public resources under the guise of Pakistan’s security requirements.

He said the “national security state” had been constituted on the basis of a perceived threat from India, and the vast majority of the $6 billion arms purchased over the past few years had also been deployed on the Indian border.

Mr Sajjad said the people of Pakistan were now convinced that the state’s priorities must change because the “India threat” was simply an excuse for the military establishment to continue hogging a huge proportion of public resources.

He pointed out that more than $6 billion that had been spent on buying new weaponry was money that had been provided by the US for the “war on terror”.

“This kind of irrational expenditure can thus be expected to continue indefinitely so long as the ‘war on terror’ continues,” he added.

He said in this case, not only the state would promote militarisation but extra-state forces committed to political violence would also continue to proliferate in the wider society.

Mr Sajjad said the Pakistani people would continue to suffer and that the society would be subjected to severe pressures and ultimately even fragmentation.

According to him, it is high time for the PPP to come through on its promises of Roti, Kapra aur Makan and effect a shift away from the national security state to a genuine people’s welfare state.