Multi-front attack against Pakistan
The year 2018 ended with an established fact that the enemies of Pakistan have imposed a hybrid war on the country. Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bawja, while addressing a passing out parade in Karachi, said “information and modern technology has changed the nature of warfare now being waged and has tilted the balance in favour of those nations that have embraced the change readily. But frankly speaking, even that will not be sufficient as the ever-increasing threat of hybrid war, to which we are subjected to, will need a totally new approach and change of traditional mindset.
“The response to such onslaughts or threats cannot
always be kinetic in nature,” said the army chief, adding that a superior
narrative needs to be propagated to deal with attacks in the cognitive domain.
He regretfully added, “Mostly misguided by ambitions, blinded by hate,
ethnicity or religion or simply overawed by social media onslaught, some of our
own boys and girls readily fall victim to such”.
It is the duty of Pakistanis that they should
try to understand the true nature, method and concept of a hybrid war if they
want to save themselves from the enemies’ destructive propaganda in this war.
There is still no established definition of a hybrid war in the world because the
situation is still in the making.
Even, NATO’s 28 countries were not able to produce
a single and agreed-upon Definition in their sitting. However, Collins English
dictionary has defined it as “a military strategy in which conventional
warfare is integrated with tactics such as covert operations
and cyberattacks “. Joshua Stowell writes, “The
term hybrid war (military institutions use the term hybrid threat) connotes
the use of conventional military force supported by irregular and cyber warfare
tactics. In practical application, the Russian concept of nonlinear
conflict exemplifies hybrid warfare strategy”. Munir Akram,
former Pakistan ambassador to the UN, writes:”Western analysts have termed
the comprehensive approach employed by Russia in Ukraine (encompassing
narrative control, cyberattacks, use of anonymous militias and irregular
forces, clandestine supplies and diplomatic support) as hybrid warfare. The
Russians refer to it as the ‘Gerasimov Doctrine’ (after the Russian military chief).
This form of warfare is also called: asymmetrical,
non-conventional, gray zone conflict, ‘new generation warfare’,
‘whole of government’ approach and so on. It is emerging as the preferred modality
in today’s contests between the great powers”.
Interestingly, Chinese thinker
Sun Tzu (770-476 BC) has already written: “ultimate excellence lies
not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.
The highest form of warfare is to attack the enemy’s strategy
itself”. Sun Tzu’s these objectives are achieved through a
hybrid war in our modern age.
The tools which are being used in this war are AI
(Artificial Intelligence)- based autonomous weapons including drones, robots,
etc., social media, data mining, algorithms, bots, advanced cyber programmes,
etc. The “internet of things” will connect 30 billion devices by 2020. So,
those people who control these devices will rule the world. All these tools are
used to attack the vulnerabilities of the enemy like economic, political,
social, regional, sectarian, linguistic issues, etc.
Pakistan is under a hybrid attack and the adversaries are
trying to exploit the economic, political and sectarian vulnerabilities of the
country. Economically, Pakistan is in a very serious situation. Corrupt
politicians
like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari and
economic hit-men like Ishaq Dar, have put Pakistan in a very
precarious position. “Pakistan’s debt and liabilities have gone from
Rs6,000 billion in 2008 to Rs30,000 billion. Pakistan’s current account deficit
has gone from $3.1 billion in 2013 to $18 billion”. The IMF and other
countries can use this situation against the interests of the people of
Pakistan.
Unfortunately, Pakistan has very corrupt leaders who
have links with other countries. These unpatriotic leaders also have their
wealth and properties in those countries. Corrupt political leaders have become
a potential vulnerability for our adversaries to exploit. They do not scruple to
indulge in anti-state activities to protect their wealth stashed in other
countries. Then, Pakistan has a sectarian problem which the enemy is also
exploiting.
Apart from exploiting these three vulnerabilities, the
hybrid war against Pakistan is focused on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC), Balochistan, the former FATA region,
and Gilgit-Baltistan. India has openly declared a hybrid war against
Pakistan in these areas. Indian former Army Chief General Vijay Kumar Singh has stated that
“following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Indian army raised a Tactical Support
Division (TSD), which carried out bomb blasts in Pakistan, and doled out money
to the separatist elements in Balochistan”. The former RAW chief,
Ajit Doval, has threatened Pakistan in these words: “You may do
one Mumbai; you may lose Balochistan”
. Kulbushan Jadhav’s arrest in 2016 also clearly shows that
Pakistan is under a hybrid war attack.
India is not only exploiting these vulnerabilities but also promoting negative narrative about Pakistan’s state and security institutions in the world. According to the reports, “India has launched a media campaign worth Rs7 billion against Pakistan. As part of the campaign, India has already launched a multimedia website and app of its Balochi radio service. India has also started a TV news channel called Zee Salam which broadcasts in Urdu language. India has created about 350K+ “Bot” profiles on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter under Pakistani names, mostly with Baloch and Pashtun surnames. They are also sharing 1000’s of fake photos/videos of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and FATA on a daily basis, systematically manipulating Pakistan’s social media with clever misinformation”.
Through these radio and TV stations, India is inciting
the Baloch community to stand up against Pakistan. India had used the
same technique against Pakistan in 1971. In 1971, India used hybrid strategy
(supporting Mujib’s six-point plan, instigating linguistic hatred, the genocide
and refugees narrative, launching anti-Pakistan propaganda, training
the Mukti Bahini ) to intervene militarily in East
Pakistan. India
and America also want to halt CPEC. So, both countries are using
Afghanistan to fulfil their nefarious agendas through different proxies as well
as through the social media.
According to another report, India has made a plan to
create a new tri-service agency for cyber warfare. The
Defence Cyber Agency will work in coordination with the
National Cyber Security Advisor. It will have more than 1,000
experts who will be distributed into a number of formations of the Army, Navy
and IAF “. It shows, very soon, India will become a strong power
in AI-based war machines.
From the above-mentioned facts and figures there should not be any doubt that Pakistan is facing a hybrid war. Pakistan should remove its vulnerabilities and get command over AI-based technology if it wants to defeat its enemies.