My friend who was on the inquiry committee would know better.
I do not needle people about anything more than they happen to proffer themselves.
The dejection on his face and his disappointed tones I remember - and I believe he said we had been left with no other choice.
Looking at the price we paid for the F-7Ps, it was a bargain.
The F-6s at that time were becoming less and less survivable; the short overhaul times, intense maintainability requirements, and obsolete armament were throttling the PAF's capabilities to suffocation point (The A-5 would prove even worse on these points).
The F-7Ps proved to have better reliability and with the radar and avionics upgrade got us through the 90s.
The ROSE Mirages were very successful programs for the Air Force to regain some of its lost punch, and more importantly the openly flaunted ballistic missile program and the nuke tests kept the enemy at bay after the late 1990s, by the grace of Allah.
In retrospect, getting the F-7Ps, and the sanctions later resulting in the ensuing Chinese/Pakistani development of the excellent F-7PG and JF-17 was the best we could have achieved (specially with the constant political upheavals and sidelining of Navy and Air Force affairs for much of the 1990-2013 period).
What this heartache has given you is a local aerospace industry that is becoming more robust by the day and that will, with the grace of Allah, free you from constant fears of sanctions and give you the freedom to manufacture, integrate, and employ the weapons you need and desire.
So, surprising to myself in the course of answering your excellent question, I must say the Mirage 2000 scandal and the F-7P acquisition was probably the best thing to happen to us.
When you are comfortable in being spoon-fed aircraft and munitions that you have no certainty you will receive during wartime or even if they will work and not be disabled (very possible in the software era), you end up being complacent and do not develop your own industry.
We need to follow the sunnah of the Turks and Israelis in this regard and bring more technology, manufacturing, and development in-house.
Sir do you think F7P induction was mistake at that time ? I mean lower air frame life / 1950`s era design
