F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The local and foreign experts at a virtual seminar on Friday put forward multiple suggestions to counter threats of hybrid warfare in an effective manner.
The National University of Science and Technology’s (NUST) Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS) organized the webinar to discuss the anatomy and characteristics of contemporary hybrid warfare, said a news release.
On the occasion, Russian geopolitical expert Dr Leonid Savin characterized hybrid warfare as a combination of conventional and unconventional military and non-military means, aimed at overthrowing rival political regimes and destabilizing adversaries’ social orders.
He stated that many countries, including Russia and Pakistan, had been targets of hybrid warfare attacks and campaigns in recent years.
Dr Savin underscored the need for trans-national cooperation for coordinating an effective response against this
global threat.
Executive Editor at Indus News Ejaz Haider opined that indirect warfare typified by hybrid warfare needed to be contextualized as a concerted strategy for simultaneous and synchronized exploitation of multiple domestic and local fault lines to reduce the system’s capacity for survival.
He was of the view that a developing country like Pakistan could counter such non-linear conflict only by promoting and prioritizing a patient, participatory, horizontal, growth-led and consensus-based negotiation of political differences.
Former Caretaker Defence Minister Lt Gen (Retd) Naeem Khalid Lodhi underlined the need for distinguishing between hybrid warfare and different generations of this warfare.
He called for active civil-military cooperation and public-private collaboration in Pakistan for not only studying but also countering hybrid warfare threats.
President Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS) Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Kaleem Saadat proposed that it was imperative to develop broadly accessible means for the systematic fulfillment of people’s aspirations for a better life as a long-term strategy against hybrid warfare.
Former Governor of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Owais Ghani emphasized over inculcating greater awareness about the general and specific features of hybrid warfare among political and community leadership.
Former Director General Intelligence Bureau Dr Shoaib Suddle opined that societies with major development and growth deficits tended to be especially vulnerable targets of hybrid warfare.
Leading expert at the Center for Military-Political Studies, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Russian Foreign Ministry Dr Vladimir P Kozin shared that one of the advisors of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had recently coined the term “mental hybrid warfare” to denote systematic activity, aimed at the destruction of people’s national consciousness and national identity to paralyze their will to defend themselves.
Former Defence Secretary and former President of National Defence University (NDU) Lt Gen (Retd) Tariq Waseem Ghazi presented the novel idea of establishing “hybrid peace” as a response to hybrid warfare activity.
Chairman and Chief Executive Office Interactive Group Dr Shahid Mahmud highlighted the importance of technology and the command of appropriate cross-domain technology-based platforms for mounting a successful response in economic, political, financial, commercial, and informational domains against hybrid warfare activity.
Water Resource Development Council (WRDC) Convener Engr Suleman Najib Khan termed India’s undeclared water war against Pakistan a devastating prong of its hybrid warfare against the latter.
Other prominent speakers included Vice Admiral (Retd) Waseem Akram; Lt Gen Masood Aslam (Retd); Ambassador (Retd) Shahid Amin; VC Institute of Space Technology Maj Gen Rehan (Retd) Abdul Baqi; and Maj Gen (Retd) Syed Khalid Amir Jaffery. The webinar was attended by Pakistani and foreign experts, scholars and students.
