Not true, not true at all. India started the process of supporting non-state actors in the face of Mukti Bahini and LTTE. In fact, India is the only country in South Asia to overtly intervene in the domestic affairs of another country (Maldives and Sri Lanka) in the form of military intervention. Lets keep our selective bias in check here please.
I think you and I have had this discussion before. You conveniently discount Pakistan using non-state actors to Kashmir in 1947. I don't.
Your preferred history might start with Muktis, mine starts right at 1947.
India has spent enormous sums in the last 20 years. India has been the number 1 importer of foreign weapons. Despite continuous efforts to gain advantage on the battlefield, India has failed because Pakistan has always countered India's acquisitions. TBH, Pakistan and India roughly spend the same as a (%) of their GDP for defence needs. The addition money that Pakistan spends is due to the WOT and Pakistan's extremely incompetent policy of joining the WOT.
What matters is the defence budget and the relative one at that. 'Number one importer' is a good sound byte but means nothing as, in reality, it's just a manifestation of the failure of domestic industry.
You are also incorrect that India and Pakistan spend roughly the same as a % of their GDP for defense needs even before the WoT. Pakistan has been grossly outspending India as a % of defence budget for many
decades.
Please take a moment to look through the SIPRI defence database to clear any misconceptions. Pakistan spent 6.8% of its GDP in 1988 while India spent 3.7%. We can go over all the historical data if you want.
Source:
https://www.sipri.org/sites/default...ountries from 1988–2019 as a share of GDP.pdf
Once again, the primary objective or raison d'etre of India has not been to defeat Pakistan. There is no 'shah rag' that India needs. If that was the case, India would match or exceed what Pakistan spends to maintain or increase the military gap, not let it decrease.
To be honest, both countries need to move forward economically as majority of our populations live below the poverty line. The poverty figures in India and Pakistan are simply astonishing and quite embarrassing to be honest. I would be more then happy if both countries curtail their defense spending and invest more money in human capital.
I cannot speak for Pakistan as I am neither a citizen nor related to Pakistan. I can speak for India that moving forward economically is the primary agenda. However, India's defence expenditure as a %, is already one of the lower ones in the world and threat to India is from China. So defense expenditure can not be lowered regardless of what Pakistan does.
India does need to dramatically increase its skilling/educational and infrastructural capacity. Those are the biggest impediments to growth right now.