Information Warfare – An Impression on Pakistan’s National Security

“World War III will be a guerrilla information war, with no divisions between military and civilian participation.”

Marshall McLuhan

National security provides an ideological and geographical rationale to a nation or nation-state. The concept implies important fabric to the guard of national values, integrity, security and diplomacy. It provides government with policies to intellect its approach to achieve domestic goals and secure a strategic position in the respective region and the globe. Pakistan has a similar footing in South Asia, Central Asia and Middle East on different levels. It holds a very significant strategic position in deciphering the future economic and security matrix for its footprints.  Nonetheless, it is also facing burgeoning challenges equally plated on the outward and inward levels where India, Afghanistan and, comparatively, Iran, are really not cozy with its fluttering.

It is no surprise that Pakistan has landed in a situation where it has met more adversaries than friends; Compare CPEC with recent momentous spike in terrorist attacks staged by RAW & NDS, India’s fathoming efforts to get to NSG, Iran mortaring our south-western borders, ISIS shadowing Afghanistan’s abysmal political future, and the Taliban factor insinuating firepower to subside the odds.

In a different purview, this situation is also cradling Pakistan with opportunities to ascend over these subliminal challenges, and shine a new falcon-pursuit of becoming an unintimidated geographic reality in the contour. Whereas Pakistan’s diplomacy emanates soft power on domestic and international politics, military projects an imperative indulgence in carving out the dwellings of National Security Policy and stratifying the respective priorities in our local scenario. These manifests ensuring undeterred defense and offense capabilities for the state so that any conventional or unconventional attacks threatening Pakistan’s national security can be effectively neutralized and responded to in equal force with similar means of warfare.

According to John F. Kennedy “There is another type of warfare—new in its intensity, ancient in its origin—war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins; war by ambush instead of by combat, by infiltration instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him. It preys on unrest.”

True as it gets, the time since CPEC project started, Pakistan has been facing violent terrorism on different fronts scooped by India. As per Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian Naval Officer, he confessed running a very extensive network of RAW in Pakistan. He further adds that the agenda was to sabotage CPEC through direct and indirect subversion and, by fanning ethnic and sectarian divide in Baluchistan and Karachi; the target was to sell the impression that Pakistan is short of any safe ground for foreign investments. This reek of a very twisted ambition by India to isolate Pakistan in the international community, as enunciated by Mr. Modi at the last NSG meet. In reciprocal, this is also a fact that China embosses a higher depth in understanding diplomatic and security level challenges which Pakistan is facing, and this is the reason why Chinese Authorities have always been vocal in supporting Pakistan’s cause on international platforms.

A very recent attack in Lahore, when investigated by the authorities, uncovered the fact that a group from the city of Chennai in India was acting as the media outlet for Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a banned outfit currently operating from Afghanistan and trained by RAW, as the IP used for the purpose pointed to the same location. This is just not a fact rather it is a statement of war rushed on Pakistan in a whole new paradigm.

Unfortunately, Pakistan is fighting an invisible war with its conventional adversaries like India and, hired mercenaries walked on the footprints of TTP and ISIS. The Modi government, anchored on Ajit Doval’s (National Security Adviser to the current Indian government) skeptics, finds Afghanistan a rich market to vent its ultra-nationalism with more lethal nuances against Pakistan. The recent retaliatory artillery-shelling by the Pakistani Forces on the border areas of Afghanistan clearly shows how things have changed in different quarters and that Pakistan cannot afford to play sitting duck in the subversive fly hall of the nexus of RAW and NDS. While the diplomacy survives through thick of the recent happenings, the strategic national security narrative has opened up new avenues for Pakistan to redraw the friendship boundary lines. The Collusion of TTP and JuA, and the recent horrific killing of an ISI officer, was an attempt to portend Pakistan as a new battlefield for ISIS. This is just not simple rather it is a comprehensive offensive by RAW and NDS, trying to circulate Pakistan on every front for a gain that is highly challenged by China and contained by Iran – still very conservative in stretching its feathers to India’s ambitions but on a very limited economic front.

Following on with a suicide attack on a Sufi shrine in Sehwan Sharif, in which more than 80 innocent civilians lost their lives finally compounded the need for the security forces to start a country wide operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, aimed to curb the sleeper cells of the banned outfits and consolidate the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb.  With this, Rangers in Punjab started their operation in the lookout for facilitators of the terrorist outfits, where in 8 terrorists were killed and more than 600 were arrested. As these happenings rolled in, very surprisingly social media saw a surge of images showing that Pathans, an ethnic community mostly hailing from KPK and FATA, were being targeted in this operation and a resentment was purported through fake propaganda – This internalizes a new course for the warfare, The Information Warfare. 

While Pakistan is home to more than 200 million people representing different ethnicities, its internal challenges also flash harder as sectarian rife and Baluch liberation movements pose strategic vulnerabilities to the hostile forces. As the Media houses keep covering these issues for public, yet their role has been quite difficult to ascertain where mostly the military establishment is under fire — which inadvertently enforces India plastered information war. This along with short sighted political leadership at home multiplies the obstacles and renders it hard for the country to move forward in achieving its domestic sustainability goals and the hallmark in United nations and the Security Council. India is trying to exploit on these very setbacks in order to perpetuate its agenda of hate and violence, so as to stop any runners up in the region that may affect chances to maneuver regional strategic equilibrium in its favor. A self-exiled Baluch Separatist Leader Barhamdagh Bugti, currently residing in UK, regularly updates his social media accounts with video messages slurring Pakistan’s Military for carrying out operations in Dera Bugti and other parts of Baluchistan and allegedly oppressing people through force. It is no surprise that this is not happening without RAW in the background. Only the weapons have changed, and it has got more audience in the show.

Seeing these challenges, Pakistan needs hybrid warfare deterrence as the ongoing war has been waged from multiple canons. Information Warfare (IW), in this topology, would be the silver lining to lead in an imperative way countering any directed aggressions. The readiness at IW would give competitive edge to Pakistan in two ways:

  • Domestic housekeeping 
  • Subverting agenda of the hostile forces

As per facts, there is a residing 20 percent population of Pakistan which has either neutral opinion or a subdued mentality to the agenda propagated by factions like TTP and ISIS. This section believes in short term solutions to every problem for practical life is a far-fetched option for them. Their priorities are either twisted or short of exposition to basic intricacies of mutual living and want for collective betterment of the society. This is the most fragile segment of Pakistani nation and volatility reaches its maximum in so far as the majority inhabitants in this segment are recruited by the terrorist outfits. By disseminating information regarding how this group can be identified and effectively neutralized, can help Pakistan re calibrate its ideological strength and be more concrete in presenting its narrative to the international diplomatic community, United Nations and Security Council.  This would also help Pakistan in choking India’s blame game that Pakistan has been involved in sponsoring terrorism across borders. Indian Media which is more often hypothetical and sensational in nature breeds on the same stove of propaganda to malign the image of Pakistan in United Nations. The recent Uri Camp Attack in India unfolded the very discriminate episode of Indian Regime Psyche. This is a precisely tailored Information War against Pakistan.

While things may always get serious across the border in a dramatic fashion, we cannot just absolve ourselves of the responsibility to cover the gaps. The Judiciary of Pakistan can play an important role in deciphering a single narrative building up national disposition to abandon the extremist ideology and help nourish healthy sentiments of forbearance, tolerance and mutual understanding. Judiciary, after its resurrection and revival in 2008 pleads an important fabric in meting out challenges to the national security. The information warfare in this ambit may help lead to the culprits, playing in foreign hands and slandering religious sentiments or ethnic identities of the general public. 

An effective IW strategy may demand constant monitoring of social media pages or individuals keeping a considerable followers’ base. India is manifesting its information warfare by enticing Afghan Youth in Anti Pakistan campaigns through Social media and staged rallies in Kabul and the border with Pakistan, in the name of Pashtunistan Liberation Army. An effective strategy in Information paradigm demands a full volume of effort to subvert these nefarious designs by deploying a well-crafted conventional and social media offensive to win over the situation.

It is worth noticing that Pakistan’s national canvas is colored in multiple ethnicities and cultures, but surprisingly a liberal fascist mindset gets to steal the show of mainstream public discourse because of easy access to media, both local and international. This is an immense challenge to overcome unless we mobilize the general public to come forward and discard this mentality which by no chance coincides with our national integrity. This is one important goal of Information dominance.

Also, there is a general resentment which we need to believe in that majority of the public in Pakistan feels deprived of the basic amenities of life. The Southern Punjab region is one good example where demand for a separate province has been raising lately. It is a civil administration issue which if not handled properly might lead to confrontation and social disorder in the region. Given or not, this sense of deprivation multiplies many fold when the political leadership of the state thinks less of making it priority agenda to avert insecurities in general public. On the other side, this may pose a potential threat for the hostile forces may exploit on them and frame the whole thing into a full blown civil war. IW, in this case can help block the index of threat by exposing corruption and other malpractices of the authorities, on social media and open discussion forums, so that a domestic pressure can be generated to muster general public opinion and support in a constructive way. This would accentuate accountability and will act as a strong predicament in circumventing propaganda and subversive covert designs of the hostile forces. Baluchistan is a living example which India has started to play foul for in International Diplomacy, notwithstanding Obama administration remained tight lipped on the situation. A true opinion is that we supplied India to this effect.

Similarly, this is a reality that Corruption and Terrorism in domestic references have been found to be intertwined and this has been uncovered multiple times by the Security Forces. Karachi provides a strong study case for this observation, as Sindh Rangers had to launch an offensive on political offices to unearth mafias involved in kidnapping for ransom, extortion and running militant wings. This Operation is still in progress and more shocking facts have come to light, which alarm us of the black world living and crawling beneath the progressive view of an enlightened nation representing peaceful, moderate and tolerant public discourse. We need to understand that without dismantling these networks at home, we will not be able to solidify any gains in operations launched by the Military such as Radd-ul-Fasaad. Saying this, a prudent Information Warfare strategy, utilizing all the resources at disposal, would help support security forces in raising their morale by creating public support in favor. Notwithstanding that certain objectives may be politically sensitive to embark on; the overall gains would wipe out the residue of unabated victimization and militant culture from largely sprawled and sensitive fundamental roots of Pakistan.

An effective Guerrilla Information Warfare Strategy can provide Pakistan with strong Intelligence and Counter Intelligence Capabilities to degrade Adversaries’ Digital Infrastructure to its advantage. This includes Hacking into Security systems, wiretapping communications and installing exploits for eavesdropping. This adds to Pakistan’ offensive and defensive capabilities against adversaries in terms of situational awareness, battle field intelligence and full spectrum assets management to support its Special Forces in conducting clandestine operations. Information warfare attack would be the first offense in achieving precise targeted strikes causing maximum damage to the warring outfits. This is a different dimension in using of Information Infrastructure in maximizing gains to win over any war-theatre like situation both inside and outside of Pakistan. The necessity is to upgrade our Strategic Command, Control and Defense systems in order to set an equation with India. 

The recent joint exercises of Special Service Group and Russian Special forces, and meeting of higher echelons from Military and Civilian leadership of Pakistan with their Russian Counterparts bodes well for close ties between the two nations.  While Turkey is already suspicious of USA’s role regarding its domestic security in the wake of recent attacks by ISIS and PKK and, an alleged CIA backed Coup attempt, China and Russia can play an important role in shifting the tide of strategic dominance for Middle east and Pan Asia.  Well, Diplomacy is all going positive where is Pakistan standing on the level of readiness for Information Warfare? 

Peace as a national narrative is very highly deemed given the situation at hand in Pakistan. A holistic mass campaign aimed to change the mainstream public discourse, envisaged through an imperative IW Strategy, can help materialize gains on national unity and international diplomacy. It is important to set new idols for public by evoking general sense of ownership towards national goals. TVCs and Radio Ads can be utilized to start off with engaging attention of Public by presenting general ills of the society and the methods to control and prevent them. There shall exist a sustaining effort to derive a “Every Person matters” theme down to the highest depth of masses. Ballot casting is one related example, where Pakistan usually observes a turn out less than 50%. It is sad state of affairs that either people avoid to cast vote or if they do, they do so without any objective, often choosing people that they regret of later. While the Government on this front usually resounds to its political advantages, Information warfare may activate the war on corrupt public office holders by exposing them through unchallengeable facts and figures. Corruption shall be taken as an adversary in IW theater.

Information Warfare is strategic in nature in the sense that it demands a corresponding well-exercised policy and strategy. The Strategic goals stand as manifested depending on the depth of analysis that shall consolidate the impetus and clear thought from the executive branches of the country, intelligence agencies and technology related industries. Pakistan, as the time rolls on with regional threats exacerbating, demands an anticipative and predictive approach towards its national front to counter propaganda and media warfare. It also needs to ensure that its defense systems are more robust and resilient against possible cyber-attacks. It is highly required to prioritize its spending on defense and national security infrastructures (recent induction of LOMADS LY-80 by Pakistan Army) and acquiring key resources to help develop a sizeable cyber force to complement its IW Strategy in Omni fashion. In this connection, Cyber Crime bill 2016, though a foundation work to keep things in order on internet, demands more of a comprehensive framework to rule the Cyber and Information war paradigm within borders and across frontiers. Given that the scope is wider and exhaustive, the implications of IW multiply on the agenda of National Security. While Pakistan’s diplomacy is usually challenging whilst the fact that the State has yet to see a foreign minister, articulating parallels between civil society and national security priorities may give tough time to event itself because of an elite-liberal polarized society which caters for major share of public discourse. Some political forces are wary of the fact that Establishment solely dictates Pakistan’s foreign policy, which in fact is not possible even in subtlest of the democracies, and hence any assertive move usually incites a misguided uproar from these quarters. 

Lastly, Information Warfare has no front line because the impact and source is often challenging to identify and trace. As virtual as this warfare can be, the most realistic strategy is to strike a balance between warranting of civil liberties, in order to mute voices from coercive and hostile assets in civil society planted by India and others, and ensuring maximum security against any possible strategic IW attacks. The United States’ MEII (Minimum Essential Information Infrastructure) concept can well liberate this idea into a paradigm that can be re mapped and charted as per our domestic social and civil intricacies and be fit into the blocks of National Security to ensure higher levels of deterrence.

SUMMARY NOTES:

  • Pakistan needs a proactive full spectrum Information Warfare preparedness
  • Constant vigilance and monitoring is required to manage local and foreign assets to neutralize any cyber attacks
  • Strategic Defense Systems shall be constantly upgraded to ensure security and resilience
  • Counter Propaganda may be opted as a tactic to mitigate slandering of national values and hate incite
  • A well drafted IW Policy and Strategy shall exist which clearly states the objectives, roles and operational procedures that can be followed and applied in case of Information War
  • Media Houses shall play a responsible role in demanding situations
  • All the Executive Branches of the Country shall comply to the shared IW policy and Strategy
  • An Effective and dedicated Cyber Force shall be on standby 24/7 to offer first line of defense or attack
  • Cyber Crime bill 2016 shall bind to the National IW Policy
  • NACTA may play a centric role in the application of IW strategy narrative over all the state institutions
  • There shall be disaster contingency exercises conducted by Cyber Force Teams on regular basis to ensure optimum level of readiness in case of real Information War Scenarios
  • Kashmir Issue provides us astounding Information Warfare theatre to expose virulent occupation of India which has been giving bloodbath to the beautiful valley since 1948

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