HYBRID WARFARE - A NEW BASELINE OF INSTABILITY IN SOUTH ASIA

Abstract

Security and stability in the South Asian region has remained delicate and fragile, to say
the least, since the British left the Subcontinent in 1947. Pakistan's current security
environment and subsequent vulnerabilities are shaped by a combination of events and
actions at the global and regional levels. Since the 1998 nuclear tests first by India,
followed by Pakistan, conventional war between the two rivals under the nuclear
threshold has become too risky and too dangerous. Super powers’ divergent interests have
(further) added to the complexity of the region making it unpredictable.1 The security
environment amid the evolving strategic inter-relationship between US, China, India,
Pakistan and Russia is fast shifting the threat perceptions, and each one of these powers
wants to enforce a rebalance (of its choice) onto the region.2 In the above context, the
geopolitical developments in South Asia add a new dimension to hybrid threats the
security of Pakistan has been facing and their severity makes it incumbent on traditional
security establishment to educate all segments of population on current and future
threats of hybrid warfare. The paper would explore whether Pakistan would be able to
diffuse the current threats without loosing its significance as part of the solution rather
than the problem in the region.