By DPA
Islamabad : Pakistan Saturday unveiled its budget for the coming year, with a nine percent boost to defence spending.
"Only strong national defence can guarantee peace," Deputy Finance Minister Omar Ayub Khan told the national assembly lower house in Islamabad.
From July 1, 2006, the military will receive Rs.275 billion (about $4.5 billion) as compared to Rs.250 billion ($4.09 billion), Khan said, adding that Pakistan was a nuclear power and that "no one can cast the evil eye on it".
Amid continuing rivalry with neighbouring India, which is also nuclear-armed, Pakistan's defence forces are currently undergoing extensive modernisation.
Plans have been approved for the acquisition of state-of-the-art weapons systems, including about 70 F-16 fighter planes from the United States, reconnaissance planes from Switzerland, several warships from Greece and China, and submarines from Germany or France.
The entire budget for the coming fiscal year amounts to Rs.1.774 trillion.