US flags Pakistan defence oversight gaps

The US State Department said Pakistan lacks adequate parliamentary or civilian oversight of military and intelligence spending in its 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, TimesofIndia.com reported.

The report assessed Pakistan’s public financial transparency and identified gaps in budgetary and fiscal disclosure practices. “The military and intelligence budgets were not subject to adequate parliamentary or civilian public oversight,” the report said.

The State Department also raised concerns over limited disclosure of government debt and delays in publishing Pakistan’s executive budget proposal. It urged Islamabad to publish the proposal within a reasonable period, disclose detailed debt obligations including liabilities linked to state-owned enterprises, and place military and intelligence budgets under parliamentary or civilian public oversight.

Pakistan made its enacted budget and end-of-year financial statements widely available online. It also said Pakistan’s supreme audit institution met international standards of independence and published timely reports with substantive findings.

The assessment came after Pakistan’s federal government proposed allocating Rs 3 trillion for defence services in the 2026-27 financial year, up 17.65% from the previous year’s initial allocation of Rs 2.55 trillion. The proposed defence services allocation equals about 2.08% of projected GDP of Rs 143.6 trillion and nearly 16% of the federal government’s Rs 18.77 trillion outlay.

Military pensions are accounted for separately, with Rs 822 billion allocated for retired military personnel under the federal pension outlay. It said major military imports and defence acquisitions are generally funded outside the main defence services allocation and remain undisclosed.