ISLAMABAD - There is a need to study the causes of proxy wars, and what are the potential impacts of such wars on the overall conflict.

Prominent national and international scholars shared these thoughts in a day-long international seminar on “Strategic Dimensions of Peace and Conflict in South Asia and the Middle East”, organised by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think tank.

Prof. Shahram Akbarzadeh from Deakin University, Australia, argued there was significant gap in the literature on non-state actors. He called for empirical research, along with concrete policy suggestions, on the topic, so as to mitigate the conflicts in the region, in particular South Asia and Middle East.

Speakers grappled at the notion of non-state actors and proxy wars as PIPS director Muhammad Amir Rana said non-state actors often evoked memories of violent elements. This despite that as per definition, non-state actors include organizations working for human rights. 

Syed Rifaat Hussain, a professor at the Department of Government and Public Policy of National University of Science & Technology (NUST), said the term “proxy wars” was a contested notion.  There is no universal agreement on its definition. Interestingly, he said, proxy wars were as old as the phenomena of conventional war itself.

Speakers noted proxy wars are instruments of state power. As to why states go for it, it was argued, it is because they are often cheap undertaking to change the status quo.

Participants noted that over the decades, much of the conflict involves non-state actors. They added that inter-state conflict, on the other hand, has declined. In recent times, they said tit-for-tat tactics on behalf of such actors had reduced their appeal. 

Dr Ibrahim Fraihat from Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, Doha, termed proxy war as an armed conflict between two parties, saying though one of them is not directly involved. This way, domestic conflicts are escalated by external power intervention. At the same time, proxy war, if unresolved, can take the shape of conventional war, the most significant example was of Vietnam War, he argued. He lamented that in contemporary times, the Middle East has been rendered a stock market of proxy organisations.

William Gueriache, Associate Professor at American University in Emirate of Dubai, said all states on the face of it supported open diplomacy and multilateralism. Yet the survival of patronage has paved the way for foreign intervention during conflicts in the whole Middle East.

Dr Marwan Kablan, Director Policy Analysis at the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies Doha also hinted multiplicity of actors involved in Syrian conflict, calling it as mother of conflicts in the region. It was said that wars cannot be ended unless patron states achieve their interests.

Dr Shaheen Akhtar, Professor National Defence University Islamabad focused on the apprehension of Pakistan about India’s involvement in Afghanistan. She said Pakistan’s uneasy relationship with Kabul reinforced a perception of encirclement while growing US-India strategic cooperation further aggravated these apprehensions.

Dr Muhammad Riaz Shad, National University of Modern Languages (NUML) Islamabad, said fighting through proxies used to give states an opportunity of deniability.