ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa made a request to PMImran Khan over defence budget cut utility.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has requested the federalgovernment that funds saved from the military’s voluntary cuts in thedefence budget be spent on Balochistan province and the tribal districts ofthe erstwhile FATA region.

Prime Minister Imran Khan revealed the army chief’s request in his speechon the floor of the National Assembly on Saturday, when he acknowledged thestate of underdevelopment in Balochistan and the tribal districts and thegovernment’s efforts to undo the “lopsided development”.

“One of our biggest problems is that the richer has gotten richer and poorhas had no impact. Some areas have grown while other have been flung back.This is lopsided development. Balochistan is one of those areas, and theother is (erstwhile) FATA,” he said, particularly mentioning Sardar AkhtarMengal of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) whose supportproved critical for the government in the budget’s approval.