Since Narendra Modi took charge as prime minister of India, he has engaged Pakistan into a new kind of warfare commonly known as hybrid warfare. It is a strategy that is totally different from the previous strategies that India had planned against Pakistan. India’s new hybrid doctrine is not limited to the conflict zone population but expended to a combination of conventional and non-conventional strategies which can help India to isolate Pakistan on diplomatic and economic fronts. Before moving to discuss how India is involved in the hybrid warfare against, let’s try to understand the concept of hybrid warfare first.
The hybrid warfare, which is also known as the fourth generation warfare, is being fought on many different fronts. It is more centralized, fluid and asymmetrical in nature. It is not only fought on the conventional battleground, but on asymmetric battlegrounds within the conflict zone population, civilian population, and international community population. One can argue that hybrid warfare is a combination of some supreme tactics that states usually design to target enemy’s opportunity for growth on multi-fronts without waging a real war.
Though there is no universally acknowledged definition of hybrid warfare, however, most of the international relations experts term it a combination of regular, irregular and special military forces, local population, propaganda, diplomacy, cyber attack, and economic warfare.
According to Col John J McCuent, Hybrid conflicts therefore are full spectrum wars with both physical and conceptual dimensions: the former, a struggle against an armed enemy and the later, a wider struggle for control and support of the combat zone’s indigenous population, the support of the home fronts of the intervening nations, and the support of the international community... To secure and stabilize the indigenous population, the intervening forces must immediately rebuild or restore security, essential services, local government, and self-defense forces essential elements of the economy.
All these explanations and arguments reflect that hybrid warfare is all about engaging the enemy in all types of warfare from all fronts, simultaneously such as India is currently doing against Pakistan. India under the Modi Doval doctrine has engaged Pakistan on multi-fronts without launching a real war.
Indian lobbyists and propagandists not only in Washington but all over that the world are busy in conspiring against Pakistan and their malicious strategy is to isolate Pakistan from the rest of the world diplomatically and economically.
Pakistan’s moribund relations with Afghanistan and uncertainty in relations with Iran and the United States are the result of India’s hybrid war in Pakistan. Similarly, the trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan has reached the lowest level in the history of Pak-Afghan trade relations, Iran is confused in rebuilding its cordial relations and the United States’ administration has nothing to do, accept putting pressure on us to do more. More concerning is that Pakistan’s sacrifices in the war against terrorists are totally being neglected.
The Indian lobbyists are more active to project Pakistan’s negative image in Washington. The recent rift in Pak-US relations, America’s declaration of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist, silence over Indian security forces’ human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, and its support to India’s objection over the part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that runs through Gilgit-Baltistan are some major elements in this regard, and according to the Indian, these developments vindicate India’s stance on cross-border terrorism.
The statements directly benefit India, as the Indian leadership has often declared that cross-border terrorism has been behind the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. India’s huge investment in the infrastructure building and economic development of Afghanistan is not only to develop this war-torn country but to execute its malicious design to destabilize Pakistan through Baluchistan.
The Indian propagandists equally engaged against Pakistan in other regions of the world. A strong condemnation of terror groups, including those in Pakistan, in the joint declaration of BRICS Summit 2017 is another unsatisfactory point for Pakistan. It was the first time when the head of states of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa condemned by name to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and the Haqqani network. As usual, India retreated for a positive outcome of the BRICS declaration.
India’s involvement in creating unrest in Pakistan is also not hidden from any of us. The arrest of ‘Indian spy’ Kulbhushan Yadav from the restive Baluchistan and admission of his involvement in terror and other obnoxious activities in the province is a solid proof of Indian involvement in cross-border terrorism.
Meanwhile, the uncertain security situation in the port city of Sindh and recoveries of Indian-made weapons and ammunition from the hideouts of target killers during the Karachi operation further strengthen the suspicion about Indian involvement in creating an unrest situation in the country. Another insidious threat to Pakistan comes from extremism. Islamophobia and pseudo-liberals provide space to India to execute its malicious design while creating a sharp divide in our society. India’s involvement in the increasing political unrest and deserting our grounds cannot be ignored as well.
This time, our enemy has targeted us from home and international fronts rather than targeting from conflict zone only and to some extent, it remained successful, but not because of its hybrid strategy but because of our own weaknesses. We should not forget that our past experience in this regard is not much appreciated as we have lost East Pakistan in such a kind of encirclement in 1971.
We are in a state of an unannounced war, our security forces; our law and enforcement agencies; our government institutions, our religious and political parties, our sensitive installation; our sports, and our economy all are under the attack of hybrid warfare. To secure them, we will have to rebuild a supreme strategy, involving conflict zone population, home front population, and international community population if we want to defeat our arch-rival.
Even at this stage, if we do not understand the sensitivity of the situation and do not make efforts to convert our weaknesses into our strengths, our suffering and loss would not be much different from Iraq and Libya did face and Afghanistan is facing now.