ISLAMABAD: On December 30, the government approved an additional budget for the military to procure bulletproof vehicles for the transportation of schoolchildren in Balochistan, according to an official handout released by the Ministry of Finance.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, approved a Rs2.1 billion supplementary budget after reviewing a summary submitted by the Defence Division.
The ECC approved the summary for a technical supplementary grant for the procurement of bullet-proof vehicles, noting the operational imperatives and security requirements. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had already allowed the allocation of funds for the procurement of 38 bullet-proof coasters for schoolchildren in Balochistan.
The military’s school chain – the Army Public School (APS) – has been targeted in the past. Children of military personnel and civilians study in these schools across the country. The major terrorist attack on the APS in 2014 left 144 children dead and another 114 injured.
The ECC was informed that the Rs2.1 billion allocation would be additional and over and above the regular defence budget for the current fiscal year. The National Assembly had approved a Rs2.55 trillion defence budget. However, some operational needs of the armed forces are often met outside the regular budget.
News Published in Express Tribune on December 31st, 2025.
