An Intensified Hybrid War In Pakistan: Exposing The Local Spin Doctors – OpEd
Pakistan is currently going through one of the toughest phases amid a fierce political turmoil. The country has a history of political rivalry on diverging interests. A similar disruption back in 1970 based on personal interests created a chaos that resulted in the formation of Bangladesh. The political elites throughout history tried to manipulate the dynamics in their favor just to stay in power. The surge of power has remained a forever lust for most of the political leaders who played own vested games to remain in power.
Moreover, the military also committed mistakes by interfering in political affairs but overtime the institution has transformed and now have taken a strong stance of remaining apolitical in any situation no matter what. In the last two decades Pakistan Army has fought and won the battle against terrorism relieving lives of 220 million Pakistanis who couldn’t even get out of their homes with a guarantee to return back alive. Thousands of Army personnel laid down their lives to ensure peace for the country. On the other hand, the history advocates presence of an everlasting feud among the political circles.
Recently, the already fraught political imbalance was worsened by the killing of a renowned Pakistani journalist. After the unfortunate incident the political rivals engaged in a blame game adding insult to injury. The spin doctors skillfully crafted a confirmation bias among the laymen against the Armed Forces. But, on Thursday October 27th, DG ISPR and DG ISI debunked the allegations on the institution in what is being called an unprecedented presser. However, some political analysts say this unprecedented presser was unnecessary while other commented that the one sided disinformation campaign required a staunch response from the institution and it was delivered effectively. DG ISPR raised some important questions on the murder of Arshad Sharif, a top notch investigative journalist of the country.
An intelligently constructed hybrid war is active against Pakistan and its people and there is a dire need to unfold the realities. DG ISPR and DG ISI’s presser was one such effort to counter it. On one side, institutions are being targeted by the spin doctors and on the other the enemy of Pakistan is active in equipping itself with modern weapon systems.
India is investing heavily in the upgradation of its forces. Rajnath Singh in his recent statement said India will soon get the Pakistani administered Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. All these developments are not isolated as one can easily link the internal political disruption with war mongering statements of BJP leaders from India. National cohesion and integration is a dire need for Pakistan and there is also a need of assessing and analyzing every claim intelligently, forgetting the affiliations as in situations like such no one can be trusted blindly.
Humais Sheikh is an independent Defence Analyst based in Islamabad. He has completed his Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies from Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad.
