A new US State Department report has raised an uncomfortable question about Pakistan. If the country is a parliamentary democracy, why are its elected representatives unable to properly scrutinise military and intelligence spending?

The State Department’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report says Pakistan’s military and intelligence budgets lack adequate parliamentary and civilian oversight. It recommends bringing them under greater scrutiny.

Pakistan’s defence allocation for 2026-27 is around PKR 3 trillion, up 17.6 percent from the previous year’s initial allocation. Even this does not capture the entire cost of the military establishment. Military pensions and some other defence-related expenditure sit elsewhere in the budget.

The issue is not whether Pakistan should spend heavily on defence. It faces terrorism,........

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