India, Pak spending too much on defence: former Pak air chief

There is no need for India or Pakistan to spend so much on defence, says Air Marshal Asghar Khan. The former Pakistan chief of air staff is currently visiting India to celebrate the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Rashtriya Indian Military College in Dehra Dun of which he is an alumunus.

''It is sad there is a race for nuclear weapons, when resources could be better utilised elsewhere,'' the air marshal said, when asked whether these weapons could ever be used in the region.

Air Marshal Khan, who was Pakistan's first air chief and also the youngest at the age of 36, said Pakistan spends seven per cent of its GDP on defence while India spends about 3.5 per cent. ''Is this justified when more than 50 per cent of the people in both the countries do not have access to clean drinking water, a majority lives under the poverty line and there is rampant unemployment,'' he asked.

None of the countries in the Indian sub-continent, which are plagued by hunger, poverty, unemployment and disease, require a huge armed force, he felt.

Both India and Pakistan have common problems and should work together, he said, instead of squabbling with each other. This would benefit India more, he added, as Pakistan could prove to be a good market for its goods. The air marshal also headed Pakistan International Airlines for three years, from 1965 to 1968, after retiring from the air force.

Discussing the long history of martial rule in Pakistan, he said it was because the politicians failed the people that the army came in, and suggested that in place of a five year-term there should only be a three year-term for governments in his country.

''People there get dissatisfied with the government in three years,'' said Air Marshal Khan, who has now spent about 25 years in politics, mostly in the Opposition.

Air Marshal Khan opposed a war with India over the Bangladesh issue in 1971. ''It was a mistake and we learned a lesson from it,'' he says. He paid for his defiance -- he was imprisoned for a few months and beaten many times. When General Zia-ul Haq took over Pakistan in 1977, Khan spent five years in jail.