And that's the crucial part in nearly all deals for PAF for years, be it JF 17 upgrades with French systems, be it a more advanced JF17 Block 2 upgrade, be it the J10B procurement..., all that was mainly based on the lack of funds. But that's what some dreamers simply keep ignoring when they talk about Mig's, Su's or 500 to 600 modern fighters in PAF. So it doesn't really matter what India does, the first constraint is in Pakistan itself!
More importantly, the MMRCA has no relation to PAF either, surely not from our side, since the upgrades on the Mig 29, M2K and the ongoing procurement of MKI's alone provides IAF with a technical and numerical superiority, which also doesn't change if IAF is forced to phase out Mig 21s and 27s earlier than expected. So any procurement of PAF for new fighters, would have to counter the existing fleet and capabilities first, even without considering MMRCAs, which brings us full circle again, since even that is limited by resource resource constraints, financially and also politically with the limitations the US put of PAFs' F16 capabilities.
The only way to counter IAF is not to aim on similar numbers of similar fighers, but to add game changers / force multipliers! The addition of AWACS and Tanker aircrafts that are fully compatible with JF 17, along with a good Chinese weapon pack, gave PAF far more capability, than the comple F16 fleet. PAF now is able to detect threats far earlier, which reduces the reaction time, but at the same time is able to increase it's reach and endurance via IFR or the use of stand off weapons. That's where PAF used it's resources in the most effective way and not by adding more, but limited F16s. The next such game changer will be the J31, since that again expands PAF's capabilities much further, even in lower numbers.