The General announces a 50,000-layoff in Pak Army

While the move has been explained as a strategic necessity in the light of sweeping changes in war doctrines, officials pointed out that the new policy would enable Pakistan to effectively argue before the world community that it was drastically cutting down its Defence spending though India continued to make large allocations.

An official statement pointed out that the reduction was in its ‘‘tail’’ in a bid to achieve a leaner and meaner force. The announcement comes weeks after US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that Pakistan would be a major non-NATO ally, making it easier for its military to buy modern military hardware.

A self-proclaimed nuclear weapon state since it countered India’s May 1998 tests, Pakistan was quick to point out that this move would also save millions of dollars.

Criticised earlier for spending nearly 4 per cent of its GDP on Defence annually, an official statement issued last night stated : ‘‘The restructuring plan envisages the Army to be lean but lethal and hard-hitting. It will improve the teeth to tail ratio, in which tail is being reduced by about 50,000 men to allow sizeable savings in funds’’.

Pakistan’s announcement generated mixed feelings in the Indian strategic community. Lt Gen (retd) Vijay Oberoi, former Vice Chief of Army Staff, feels that ‘‘a large part of the Pakistan Army is presently employed in the civil sector which Musharraf is trying to settle permanently.’’

Oberoi is quick to point out that a significant chunk of the Pakistan military machine is designated as para-military: ‘‘They have the Mujahid battalions and the Rangers which are actually under their Defence ministry. Even during the Kargil War, Pakistan used the Northern Light Infantry which was then not a regular unit on paper.’’

The original author of Indian Army’s new war doctrine, Oberoi says Pakistan will not be in a position to reduce its combat troops.‘‘All operations on its borders are manpower-intensive.’’

While Defence officials in Islamabad maintained that the restructuring plan was aimed at maintaining minimum conventional and nuclear deterrence against India, Oberoi rules out Pakistan’s nuclear stance as anything more than deterrence.

Agrees Air Marshal (retd) Vinod Patney, former Vice Chief of Air Staff: ‘‘Nuclear weapons are more as a threat or deterrence. But the nature of warfare has changed and downsizing and modernisation are essentially two sides of the same coin.’’

Strategic expert C Rajamohan feels that downsizing of the military is a trend that will catch on. ‘‘India, Pakistan and China will have to eventually downsize because this is the age of highly mobile forces,’’ he says.

Musharraf has also announced that the Army will discontinue the practice of soldiers being employed as batmen by officers. The batmen would be replaced with a new cadre called non-combatant bearers who would be employed on contract.

Pakistan has a five lakh-strong army, half the size of India’s. Officially, Pakistan has been pegging down its Defence spending at the same level for the last two years. Last year, the Pakistan government allocated around $3 billion to Defence. — (with PTI from Islamabad).