As the nation gears up for the general elections, it is of the utmost importance for Pakistan’s leadership and opinion-makers to debate and determine the priorities to be followed and the goals to be achieved by the elected government with the assistance of the public servants.

Several issues of critical importance will be waiting for the attention of the new government as it assumes the reins of power. Perhaps the most important of them is the perennial issue of guns vs butter, which determines the allocation of resources between the military and non-military sectors of society.

No independent and sovereign country can afford to ignore the legitimate demands of its security against external and internal threats. At the same time, no government can turn a blind eye to the imperatives of economic development and social welfare which directly affect the lives of the people it is supposed to serve. The challenge that any government faces is to strike the right balance between these two important aspects of national policy to ensure the country’s short-term and long-term security as well as accelerate its economic growth and promote its social welfare.

The importance of economic strength in the calculation of a country’s national power and the realization of its national goals cannot be overemphasized in the modern world. The Soviet Union collapsed not because of the shortage of conventional and nuclear weapons but mainly because its weak economy could not sustain the enormous burden of its extensive strategic commitments and heavy military superstructure.

Economic and technological development is not only an indispensable condition for a country’s progress and the prosperity of its people but also an important source of strength to its military power and an essential ingredient in the calculus of its national security,........

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