Pakistan’s Proxy War Strategy

Terrorism as a potent weapon, came on the ‘art of war’ scene several decades ago. It was a low investment high returns kind of warfare though terror is not a fair war. But everything is fair in love and war- the cliché goes.

 

 

Several nations resorted to terrorism as they had no means to fight a war with a powerful nation they wanted to confront or beat. Pakistan is a case in point. They know they cannot fight a war with India and win, as it is no match in terms of economy, numbers and weapon systems against India. On the conflict continuum one side of spectrum is conventional war and on the other side is nuclear deterrence. Pakistan has devised a mid-path. You cannot fight and win a war with India but you have a nuke so you can threaten but never use.

 

This kept India away or at bay- nuclear option was a ‘NO Clear Option ‘. At the highest level they would say ‘Hamare pass atom bumb hai’ so don’t try to mess with us. They scare the hell out of the entire world as there has been no nuclear explosion after August, 1945 in Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan- and the results were scary. The world still remembers and trembles when you talk about it even today.

 

From Pakistan it was always a hazy threat, but made to look credible by saber rattling as popularly termed. They devised ‘bleed India to death with thousand cuts’ as a war doctrine - inflict casualties to civilians, shoot and scoot into jungles, create panic and fear leaving a nation as big as India helpless- just deny that they did it. Any amount of proof, dossiers would just be denied. It is very difficult to prove even a murder and hang a murderer even in courts as there are technical issues and if the judge is ready to play ball you go Scot free.

 

If India suffers, the suffering is for India, it does not affect America or Europe. They say it is not their business- you deal with it. A better way for a rogue nation like Pakistan, is to create proxy terror organizations. Create them, pay them, arm them, train them and feed them – non state actors of a state where state itself is an actor. They are your loyal faithful dogs ready to go where ever you want. Hamas, Hezbollah are organizations of Iran, are some examples of proxy terror organizations sponsored by the state.

 

 

The latest doctrine, credo, maxim or whatever you may like to call it is ‘unnamed gunman’. This seems to be the paradigm shift in killing methodology – it is lowest cost killing- even lower than terrorism. You chose high value targets amongst the terrorist organization that bothers you and just employ a single man to go solo and eliminate- Bang. Next day headline scream that so and so killed by unknown gunman and have a dead man’s picture having been brutally murdered. Message delivered and dusted both to the state and non-state actors. It is like a drone-precise, full of surprise and cheap.

 

 

Here you may employ a disgruntled unemployed youth from the very nation you want to harm. This is the most productive kill!

 

It sends shivers down the spine of the whole terror organization which could have million men. It sure demoralizes people down the ranks. ‘If our leader is not safe then how are we safe’ - they ask.

It is like a radiation- focused radiation to eliminate a tumor.

 

In fact, results go beyond the targeted tumor with this therapy- it makes other rogue cells in the organization shrink too. ‘Who will be next and when’ is the scariest feeling amongst the rest. ‘Aab tera number aye ga bhai’ is a grape vine whisper. Phantom strikes those who deserve to get eliminated and not the innocent ones. As a movie (Sholey) dialogue goes- Mother tells her child to go to sleep ‘Nahi to Gabbar aa-jayega’.

Terrorists kill innocents but phantom kills cockroaches and termite- one by one- it often goes for the mother cockroach as a kill.

 

 

Today especially in India there are several- more than several traitors within the country. Some call it deep state, left liberals, even traitors and what not. In our culture we call them ‘Jaichands’. They are in every possible profession, college students, professors, social media influencers, lords, activists, NGO masters, business guys, Lawyers, politicians, news anchors, writers, journos and so many others. They do the inside hit job and their nuisance value and radius of influence and damage is far more than a guy wielding an AK 56 or a bomb tied to his body ready to blow up himself- he may kill only in hundreds. Jaichands destroy a nation from within.

 

Their methods are very different. All may not be spying for the enemy but have different ways to harm the country and pocketing a huge sum as a reward from the enemy state. They are plants.

Friend of your enemy is your enemy too. They are great at building a narrative and today war is not only fought by bullets but more affectively by perception. A bad publicity could tank your Sensex and wipe out billions in a day.

They can stop a dam being built, hi jack a car manufacturing plant, or stop a medical college being built. Even a nuclear power plant, or stop a law being passed for farmers good. Well oiled, very sharp, well-engineered and well-funded they can cleverly drain out a nation- tire out the administration.

 

They could be having dinner at a fund raising along with you. In your face. And you can do sweet nothing. Trolling doesn’t deter them- they love it. Their market value goes up in the eyes of their handlers and pay masters if they have millions of followers on social media.

 

The worst is they look like you and me- a boy or girl next door. Very difficult to catch them. Many of them often boast ’catch me if you can’. They will sell their nation if not mothers for a few dollars more. Mentally they stink but with easy greasy money they buy expensive colognes to smell good. Sauve and sophisticated- admirable.

It is very difficult to catch them and almost impossible to prove that they are harming the nation- they just deny and law cannot do much as they are always ahead on the learning curve. For some the lure of money and smell of easy dollars is so profound, that they gradually get recruited by the enemy of the state and reach a point of no return.

 

 

You cannot send terrorists to knock of the enemy within.. but you can employ other clandestine means.

In underworld language in India, it is called ‘Supari’. In more sophisticated mafia language, it is a contract. Surprisingly these hired guns can come cheap. There are fellows who already are full of ‘khunnas’ or hatred for these living sharks. For a very small fee as depicted in movies, they are hired. And do the job for sure- they ensure that the hit job does not or cannot be traced back to the man who gives the contract. ‘Mogambo khush hua’.

“You ever feel prickly things on the back of your neck?”

 

The price of a 9 mm cartridge/bullet is around Rs 170/- close to 2 dollars. Chocopologia, by Knipschildt-La Madeline au truffle an expensive chocolate costs $250/- a piece. You can get rid of hundred and twenty guys in cost of a chocolate truffle as far as ammo is concerned!

 

Conventional terrorists use expensive ammo and very expensive guns like AK 56 and fire thousands of rounds to get their message across and many innocents die too. Chemotherapy?

Here the phantom is recycled for a few dollars more. How cost-effective no?

 

‘The guns of Nirvana’

 

How else do you catch these traitors? You cannot. Best part is that they look like one of us but also marked by the public. People hate them- those who are wolves in the clothing of a sheep. A man on the street if he has his way would shoot them point blank but he cannot do it. Reminds me of the movie ‘A Wednesday’. You see them on TV screens, Dharnas, courts, universities, columnists, journos et al. Let me tell you if your Phantom pumps in a few slugs into this hated community, people will rejoice. The nation will thank the phantom. ‘no one will cry when they die’.

Phantom is supported by pigmies and there are 1.4 billion Indians ready to welcome the phantom- the ghost who walks.

 

Virginia Woolf