THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently made a startling confession. Speaking in Urdu to business leaders in Islamabad, he admitted that he and Army Chief General Asim Munir feel ashamed traveling the world with a “begging bowl,” asking for loans. He said their heads bow down in shame, and they cannot say no to the demands lenders place on them.
It was a moment of remarkable honesty. But it also raises an obvious question: if Pakistan’s leaders are so ashamed of begging for money, why don’t they stop doing things that require them to beg?
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Pakistan is currently on its 23rd IMF program. Public debt has risen. Poverty has risen to around 45% of the population. Unemployment stands at 7.1%, affecting over eight million people. About 20 million children remain out of school.
This is a country in severe economic distress. Yet within days of securing a $1.2 billion IMF loan as part of a $7 billion bailout package, Pakistan announced it would join Trump’s Board of Peace. Full membership costs $1 billion. Think about that: a country too poor to educate its children somehow found money to buy a seat at a geopolitical vanity project that major Western powers like the UK, France, and Germany refused to join.
The Defense Spending Problem
Here’s where the contradiction becomes truly stark. Pakistan’s defense spending in fiscal year 2024-25 has increased estimated level of 20% following border tensions with India in May 2025. Pakistan increased this to about $9 billion. This was the largest defense increase in a decade.
Meanwhile, education receives just 2% of GDP. Healthcare gets 1.3%.
Let that sink in. A country that claims it’s ashamed to beg for money spends vastly more on weapons than on teaching its children to read or keeping its people healthy.
The Terrorism
The spending priorities become even more disturbing when you consider what some of that defense budget supports. Pakistan officially denies running terrorist training camps or harboring militants. But in July 2019, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan made a stunning admission at the US Institute of Peace. He acknowledged that Pakistan still had about 30,000 to 40,000 trained militants who had fought in Afghanistan or Kashmir. He admitted to 40 different militant groups operating within Pakistan’s borders.
Khan went further. He confessed that previous Pakistani governments had not told the United States “the exact truth on the ground” and that “our governments were not in control.” This confirmed what India and Western nations had been saying for years: Pakistan was harboring tens of thousands of trained militants.
More than 100 insurgent training camps have been identified in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Former President Pervez Musharraf admitted that Pakistan supported and trained groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 1990s. India’s army chief documented 43 terrorist camps on Pakistani soil.
So when Pakistan asks for international loans, some of that money indirectly supports an infrastructure that trains and harbors militants. The country begs the world for help while maintaining the very militant networks that make it a pariah state.
A Question of Choices
Pakistan’s leaders say they feel shame traveling with a begging bowl. But shame without change is just empty words.
Real change would mean:
(1) Cutting the bloated defense budget and redirecting funds to education and healthcare
(2)Dismantling terrorist infrastructure instead of maintaining it
(3) Saying no to expensive geopolitical vanity projects like Trump’s Board of Peace
(4) Prioritizing the 20 million out-of-school children over buying new weapons
(5) Choosing development over militarism
Instead, Pakistan does the opposite. It maintains one of the highest defense-to-GDP ratios in the region. It harbors militant groups. It joins expensive international clubs it cannot afford. And then it expresses shock that lenders impose conditions and other nations view it with suspicion.
The Bottom Line
You cannot have it both ways. You cannot maintain a massive military establishment, harbor tens of thousands of militants, spend a billion dollars on international prestige projects, and then complain about having to beg for loans.
Prime Minister Sharif is right to feel shame. But the shame shouldn’t be about asking for help. The shame should be about the choices that make asking necessary.
Pakistan’s crisis is not primarily economic. It’s a crisis of priorities. Until Pakistani leaders choose schools over guns, development over militancy, and their people’s welfare over military ambition, the begging bowl will remain in their hands.
And their heads will continue to bow down—not because they’re asking for help, but because they refuse to help themselves.
References
1.https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/shehbaz-sharif-admits-pakistan-goes-around-world-with-begging-bowl-nations-no-longer-expect-us-to-come-with-begging-bowl-but-to-engage-in-trade-latest-2025-06-01-992776
2.https://www.youtube.com/live/oYGF6gvmCso?si=A_gmTMvUC64Ja9bt
3.https://www.wionews.com/pakistan/pahalgam-terrorist-attack-pakistans-admission-of-funding-terrorists-not-new-imran-khan-had-once-accepted-of-harbouring-40000-terrorists-9000405
4.https://www.darpanmagazine.com/news/international/imran-khans-big-admission-in-us-says-40000-terrorist-still-in-pakistan/
5.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_state-sponsored_terrorism
6.https://www.occrp.org/en/news/pakistani-court-drops-terrorism-charges-against-former-pm-imran-khan
7. https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/07/25/pm-imran-khan-vows-to-take-action-against-40000-terrorists-in-pakistan/
