‘Will eat grass but increase Pakistan army’s budget’: Former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar

Former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar has recently made a number of comments on the country’s national issues, especially those pertaining to the armed forces. In his recent remark, Akhtar said that if needed, he would eat grass to increase the country’s defence budget.

“If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army,” he said in an interview with Pakistan’s ARY news.

Islamabad has allocated $7.85 billion for defence for 2020-21. This represents a 12% rise from the last year’s budget. 

However, Akhtar, popularly known as the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ said, he couldn’t understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the armed forces. 

“I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20%, I will make it 60%. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only,” he said. 

He also claimed in the interview that he gave up a  £175,000 ($22,900) county contract to take part the Kargil war in 1999.

“I stood on the outskirts of Lahore. A general asked me what I’m doing there. I said war is about to start and we’ll die together. I left county [cricket] twice like this and the counties were shocked. I wasn’t concerned about that. I called up my friends in Kashmir and told them I am ready to fight,” Akhtar told ARY News.