India’s proxy conduct

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks at Pakistan Naval Academy that India has increasingly resorted to covert tactics and proxies to destabilize Pakistan after suffering a humiliating defeat in the May conflict last year are not political rhetoric but a reality that has become increasingly difficult to ignore. Unable to achieve its objectives on the battlefield, India appears to have shifted its focus towards a proxy war to undermine Pakistan’s internal peace. The pattern of violence witnessed over the past year reinforces this assessment. Terrorist attacks inside Pakistan have increased. The latest monthly security assessment by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reported 128 terrorist attacks during May, compared to 101 in April, an increase of 27 per cent. The provinces that continue to bear the heaviest burden of this violence are Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where security personnel and innocent civilians remain the principal targets of terrorist attacks. The objective is evident: to stoke instability and uncertainty as well as obstruct economic progress. Pakistan has consistently maintained that terrorist outfits such as Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna al Hindustan are being used by India to wage an indirect war against the country. Having failed to confront Pakistan successfully through conventional military means, the neighbouring country is now pursuing its objectives through proxies, hoping to impose security and economic costs on Pakistan. However, such designs are destined to fail. The same defence forces that defended the country’s sovereignty and inflicted defeat upon the enemy on the battlefield possess the resolve, capability and experience to dismantle every proxy network operating against the country. Our security personnel continue to pay the ultimate price in the fight against terrorism and there is every reason to believe they will overcome these externally sponsored threats just as they defeated open aggression.