The term Ideology refers to a set of collectively held ideas about society, usually promoted to justify a certain type of political action. Pakistan is a country that was chalked out on the world map through a long and cumbersome struggle of a people that shared an ideology. It was a result of numerous unpleasant events and experiences with the Hindus and their British colonial masters in the subcontinent. The hostile attitude of the Hindus and unfair policies of the British shattered the Muslim Leadership’s dream of Hindu-Muslim unity and paved the way for the ‘Two Nation theory’. The Two Nation Theory was founded on the idea that Muslims and Hindus are two separate nations and therefore cannot live together in a single state due to a difference in culture, language, history and religion. This ideology of the Two Nation Theory unified the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent in their struggle for a separate homeland in hopes of finding social, religious and political freedom. This struggle bore fruit in 19471.
After independence the nascent state of Pakistan faced numerous challenges—accession of Kashmir with India against the backdrop of the cold-war along with a need of financial reserves to run the newly formed state—that shifted the focus from state building and fostering national integration to security-oriented policies. The early demise of Quaid e Azam and Liaqat Ali Khan left a void in the leadership of Pakistan during its early years. These factors, coupled with foreign instigation, led to the fall of East Pakistan in 1971 which greatly tarnished the ideological foundations of Pakistan2.
The formulation of a potent conventional force and nuclear deterrence by Pakistan precludes chances of direct confrontation. However, this makes covert interference through non-kinetic domains all the more favorable. Socioeconomic, ethno-religious and social justice remain a grey area which provides the adversary with readily available and exploitable fault lines. The use of information operations specifically targets the moral and binding elements of society to exploit the existing fissures. Therefore, it is pertinent to analyze the importance of an ideology to achieve national integration in a non- cohesive society like Pakistan to effectively counter the threat posed by hybrid warfare.
Ideological Evolution and Nationalism
Qureshi and Saleem M. (1972) defined Nationalism as prioritizing the interests, believes and values of a nation over those of the outsiders in a socially and economically competitive world. Similarly, a nation is composed of people that share a history, language, culture or territory. The national ideology of Pakistan is unique in the sense that it does not rely on a territorial, cultural or linguistic basis, rather it finds its roots in religion. It emerged as a consequence of the Hindu majority’s political machinations against the Muslim minority and biased attitude of the colonial British. Consequently, due to the misplaced ideological footing, Pakistan not only fell short at nation building but also had to face dismemberment of one of its wings3.
The Muslim leadership never envisioned to build a nation only on an uni-dimensional religious nationalism. However, the early demise of the prominent Muslim leadership and challenges associated with managing the affairs of a nascent state diverted focus from solidifying an ideological foundation. A lack of visionary leadership and reliance on religious nationalism instead of building a nationalist ideology further polarized the society. Pakistan was an amalgamation of multiple ethnicities that needed to be weaved together through a common sense of purpose and by providing social justice rather than slogans to protect religion4.
Another major hindrance in achieving nationalism as a state was our failure to declare our ideology in clear terms. Although Quaid- e-Azam was specific in his speeches, however, after his demise the ideology remained ambiguous and a tool for manipulation by fundamentalists and liberals alike. He believed Islam to be in line with values of liberal democracy: equality, justice and fair play. Jinnah contended for Pakistan on the basis of two nation theory, but never expressed anti-Hindu sentiments. In his first address to the constituent assembly on 11th August 1947, he emphasized that religion, cast or creed had nothing to do with the business of the state. The people of Pakistan are all citizens and equal citizens of the state. He further mentioned that in times to come Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to Muslims in the eyes of the state and all would be treated as equal citizens5. However, extremists on both sides of the spectrum have misconstrued this statement with one side claiming Quaid’s departure from the two nation theory and claiming it to be the foundation of a purely secular state while others judge it as a hint towards theocracy. He viewed Pakistan as a progressive democratic state under the shadow of Islamic concepts of social justice and equality. Despite more than seven decades of Pakistan’s existence, this ideology still remains to be implemented in its true sense6. In a multi-ethnic society like Pakistan ideology of nationalism appears more relevant than ever in the face of a hybrid threat environment which aims to target the ideological, religious, cultural, ethnic and economic fault lines to further an adversarial agenda.
Hybrid Threat Environment
The nuclearisation of South Asia has reduced the chances of an open war between Pakistan and India. However, this has led to an increase in indirect threats in accordance with Indian aspiration against Pakistan, resulting in an active Hybrid war that poses a major security threat to Pakistan, for years to come. Evidence of India’s Hybrid agenda against Pakistan manifested when India officially introduced the ‘Doval Doctrine’ in its defense strategies. This aimed at destabilizing Pakistan, formally allowing and approving all activities that yielded external as well internal damage to Pakistan. In 2016 an Indian spy, Kalbushn Jhadav (a serving Indian navy officer), was apprehended from Balochistan. He confessed to his involvement in terrorist and sabotage activities in Baluchistan and Karachi. Furthermore, India’s continuous lobbying in FATF to exert a financial crunch alongside tarnishing its global image as a terrorist sponsoring state are evidences of its active Hybrid campaigning against Pakistan. A recent report released by the US department of Treasury’s FinCEN has identified India as a financial supporter of terrorism in Pakistan7. Moreover, recently, Pakistan has submitted a dossier to the UN on India’s terror campaign in Pakistan8. The uncovering of 15 years long disinformation campaign, by EU DISINFOLAB, specifically targeting Pakistan by India, highlights the extent of propaganda and narrative shaping efforts being carried out against Pakistan9. While Pakistan has a myriad of hybrid threats from various directions, they all point to different existing fault lines and ambiguities in the country.
DRIVERS OF INSTABILITY
Ideological Identity
After independence Pakistan’s Ideological identity has remained in the grey zone. Formerly, the Islamic Ideology as envisioned by the founding fathers was pursued until the 1970’s when socialism took over. During the 1980’s Islamization proceeded which was later abated to moderate Islam from 1999 onwards. Consequently, this has severely influenced policy making, and has been a constant source of turmoil in the country. In turn causing disunity and spreading intolerance amongst the masses. Although, the foundation of Pakistan’s ideology is based on core Islamic principles but due to the prevailing divisions along religious and ethnic lines, the state’s ideological perspective is under persistent perplexity10.
Regional and Sub Nationalist Identity
Pakistan being a multi-ethnic society faces the challenge of regional identities in pursuit of national cohesion. The fall of East Pakistan was the consequence of this dichotomy. Moreover, there has been unrest in KPK and with the sub-nationalist groups in Baluchistan and in Sindh. These activities have been supported by India, Afghanistan and other international agencies, striving to keep Pakistan occupied in internal issues, preventing it from strengthening its foundations as a unified nation. Furthermore, these differences have given rise to identity politics in the country. It has been used by influential elites to harness the support of a certain segment of society categorized on ethnicity, language, class, or sect for the exclusive interest of that segment. Identity politics work on the framework of demonizing the other social groups. Therefore, in the absence of a concrete national ideology and unequal regional growth, this political strategy has been utilized by the influential elites. Consequently, this adds fuel to the existing ethno-linguistic differences, leading to separatist movements in a global era of regime change and hybrid warfare. Moreover, prolonged negligence, weak governance and exploitation by anti-state and foreign supporters encourage sub-nationalist groups to emerge and persist in their agendas.
Sectarianism
Sectarianism arose due to divergent interpretations of religious affairs. Mahsood (2017) argues that Pakistan has seen a rise in sectarianism since the 1980’s, after the Iranian revolution and Afghan Jihad. This religious segregation of the masses of Pakistan has been exploited by foreign powers and their local collaborators. Finance and support rendered by the outside world to Madrassahs and Imambargahs across the country have accentuated this sectarian rift11.
Ineffective Governance and Economic Disparity
Poor governance and economic disparity are two concurrent issues of Pakistan that prevent national cohesion and consequently tapers the growth and development of the country. Lack of social justice, unequal opportunities, disproportionate resource allocation, delayed justice, incompetent institutions, corruption and un-accountability have created grievances among members of society, leading to social division. These disparities, coupled with a lack of development, create breeding grounds for terrorist and radical activities. Thus, situations develop that merit the employment of the army in internal security duties to restore the writ of the state which further complicates the security milieu of the country.
Political Instability
Throughout history the leadership of Pakistan has been a mix of military dictators and an indirect influence by the military coupled with ineffective political leadership vying for their own vested interests with both segments undermining the viability of the state. The recent political instability in Pakistan claimed as foreign sponsored and locally abetted electoral intervention by the PTI government lays bare the fallacies of the decision makers in Pakistan with their self-centered and misconstrued views regarding the impact of the relationship between the state and the masses. The marginalization of popular vote, heavy handed approach by state institutions, and deep resentment amongst masses with a consequent economic down turn portent a rich ground for exploitation by adversaries.
Sub Nationalist Organizations
Pakistan faces innumerable challenges due to various terrorist groups operating within its boundary and being sheltered/sponsored by neighboring/regional and international powers. These range from the radical terrorist, sectarian, ethnic organizations like TTP, Lashkar e Jhangvi, BLA, BRA, etc. Their objective remains to destabilize Pakistan through armed struggle for their own vested interests.
Information Warfare
In this era of information technology, mass mobilization in the name of regional identity has a stronger appeal. Political discourse limited to a selective representation of reality coupled with slogans and images by influencers on social media are prone to trigger masses towards separatist movements and sectarian violence12. Moreover, these anti-state curated narratives with foreign support also tarnish the legitimacy of state institutions and efforts like fencing of Pak-Afghan border is portrayed as dividing Pushtons, good relations with Iran are dubbed as anti-Sunni. Similarly, at a national level, an economic project has been misrepresented as the ‘China-Punjab Economic corridor’13. Likewise, in this digital age, the role of mainstream media in building a national narrative cannot be stressed enough. Similarly, propaganda through media platforms is a widely used weapon by enemy forces to wage hybrid warfare on a country. However, in Pakistan, the misuse of freedom of media is a source for disrupting the national narrative. Biased and corrupt media personnel play a role in damaging the national ideology through propaganda thus causing national disintegration.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The overt religious leaning of the political ideology of Pakistan should be diluted through political discourse among the major stakeholders and by creating awareness amongst the masses. The ideology should be based on the concept of nationalism, while retaining some religious influence. An overarching identity should be formed, transcending the ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural differences and based on common goals. This ideology should rely on the objective of putting Pakistan before all other agendas. This can be done through the recommendations stated below.
Ideological Recourse
A National Ideological Council should be established, comprising of subject matter experts from the arts, social & political sciences, religious scholars, representatives from ministry of information, interior, foreign affairs, religious affairs and judiciary. The council should prepare a comprehensive study to transition towards equal rights and equal prospects for upward social mobility to various segments of society, irrespective of their beliefs, opinions, ethnic or racial backgrounds. The role of religion needs to be recrafted as a contributor towards strengthening nationalism in synchronization with other factors.
The National Narrative
The ideological recourse proposed by the National Ideological Council should be propagated within the country to develop a national consensus. The political leadership and media in coordination with important religious figures should engage the masses through a public mass engagement campaign.
Socio-Economic Justice, Good Governance
Reforms in bureaucracy/governance are necessary to alleviate a sense of deprivation and despondency amongst the public. Judicial reforms should ensure dispensation of justice to all, regardless of their social standing. Rampant corruption needs to be curtailed by ensuring the independent functioning of regulatory bodies like NAB, etc. who will require protection from political influences.
Unified National Education System
The education system should be reformed to enable the youth to compete with their counterparts globally. The precursor to this is the creation of a uniform education system and syllabi. The ministry of education, at the provincial level, should monitor the curriculum and ensure that the methods of instructions are in line with the values, culture and national objectives of Pakistan. Foreign funded schools/ madaris need to be regulated to deny exploitation of Pakistani youth for the vested interests of the financiers.
Media Management
The government should develop a proactive strategy to counter hostile propaganda targeting the ideological foundation/unity of the country. Social media networks providing services in Pakistan must be regulated through PEMRA and the accessibility of controversial programs should be monitored. The government in collaboration with local media houses, should counter hostile narratives and project their own narrative to the domestic and international audience. The public should be educated on how to sift the truth from fiction in today’s info enabled environment by enhancing their knowledge base.
Strengthening the Judiciary
The role of the Judiciary must be strengthened and monitored for timely dispensation of justice and accountability. The principles of equality and fair play must be observed by the custodians of law. The judiciary has a great part to play in dissolving vertical disparities in the population.
Conclusion
Hybrid warfare targets internal fault lines in a country, mainly through disinformation, diplomacy, law fare, economic barriers and foreign electoral interventions. This incredibly complex threat endangers the national unity of states by damaging the very principles these nations were built on. Therefore, in today’s world, a country needs strong national cohesion that cannot be shaken. A major tool for building a strong foundation fostering a collective sense of belonging is ideology. In the case of Pakistan, national cohesion does not mean merging the ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural differences, rather it only means creating an additional national identity based on similar goals, objectives and beliefs while preserving the regional ones. This is ensured in Pakistan by providing an even share of resources and power to the provinces in the constitution. Additionally, the 18th amendment has further increased provincial autonomy, therefore, limiting the inter-provincial trust deficit and promoting better center-province relations. Pakistan has learned ample lessons from its marred history of disintegration and social and political discord. Therefore, working towards a common ideology could be achieved by addressing the grievances of the masses through effective governance and socio-economic justice. Similarly, political leaders, education institutions and the media can play a positive role by consolidating the rhetoric of nationalism, therefore, preventing the exploitation of existing fault lines by inimical forces in the garb of hybrid warfare.
References
- Sayeed, Khakid B. 1978. Pakistan The Formative Phase: 1858 – 1948. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
- Bose, Sarmila. 2005. “Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971.” Economic and Political Weekely 4463-4471.
- Qureshi, Saleem M. M. 1972. “Pakistani Nationalism Reconsidered.” Pacififc Affairs 45 no. 4: 556. doi:doi:10.2307/2755659.
- Pattanaik, Smruti S. 1998. “Islam And The Ideology Of Pakistan.” Strategic Analysis 22 no. 9: 1273-1295. doi:doi:10.1080/09700169808458883.
- M., Ahmad. 2020. Our Ideology and its Practical Implementation. Vol. 59. 4 vols. Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University.
- M., Ahmad. 2020. Our Ideology and its Practical Implementation. Vol. 59. 4 vols. Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University.
- NISAR, “5 GW AND HYBRID WARFARE ITS IMPLICATIONS AND RESPONSE OPTIONS.”
- Iqbal, “Dossier on India’s Terrorism Shared with UN.”
- “INDIAN CHRONICLES: Subsequent Investigation into a Massive Online and Offline 15-Year Ongoing Influence Operation Supporting Indian Interests and Discrediting Pakistan Internationally” (EU DISINFO LAB, 2020).
- Rais, “Identity Politics and Minorities in Pakistan.”
- Mahsood and K, “History Of Sectarianism In Pakistan: Implications For Lasting Peace.”
- Iqbal, “SOCIAL MOBILISATION AND ONLINE SEPARATIST MOVEMENT IN BALOCHISTAN.”
- Raza, “Senators Say CPEC Turned Into ‘China-Punjab’ Corridor.”
Bibliography
Sayeed, Khakid B. 1978. Pakistan The Formative Phase: 1858 – 1948. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
Bose, Sarmila. 2005. “Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971.” Economic and Political Weekly 4463-4471.
Raza, Syed Irfan. 2015. Senators Say CPEC Turned Into ‘China-Punjab’ Corridor. DAWN. https://www.dawn.com/news/1221849
Iqbal, Anwar. 2020. DAWN. https://www.dawn.com/news/1592452/dossier-on-indias-terrorism-shared-with-un .
Mahsood, Asma, K. 2017. “History Of Sectarianism In Pakistan: Implications For Lasting Peace.” Journal Of Political Sciences & Public Affairs 05 no. 04 . doi:d oi:10.4172/2332-0761.1000291.
Nisar, LT. COL. Maaz. 2021. “5 GW and Hybrid Warfare its Implications and Response Options.” Accessed 27 .
Iqbal, Abdul Rauf. 2011. “SOCIAL MOBILISATION AND ONLINE SEPARATIST MOVEMENT IN BALOCHISTAN.” Margalla Papers 129-150.
Rep. INDIAN CHRONICLES: Subsequent Investigation into a Massive Online and Offline 15-Year Ongoing Influence Operation Supporting Indian Interests and Discrediting Pakistan Internationally. EU DISINFO LAB, 2020.
Rais, Rasul Bakhsh. 2007. “Identity Politics And Minorities In Pakistan.” South Asia: Journal Of South Asian Studies 30 no. 1: 111-125. doi:d oi:10.1080/00856400701264050.
M., Ahmad. 2020. Our Ideology and its Practical Implementation. Vol. 59. 4 vols. Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University.
Pattanaik, Smruti S. 1998. “Islam And The Ideology Of Pakistan.” Strategic Analysis 22 no. 9: 1273-1295. doi:doi:10.1080/09700169808458883.
Qureshi, Saleem M. M. 1972. “Pakistani Nationalism Reconsidered.” Pacififc Affairs 45 no. 4: 556. doi:doi:10.2307/2755659
