A two-day training workshop titled 'Hybrid warfare: challenges and way forward' concluded here at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Thursday, with the message of building capacity through knowledge and research to meet the challenges of hybrid warfare, being faced by Pakistani society.
The workshop was arranged by the Press Information Centre (PIC), while former special assistant to the prime minister and founding director of the Peace and Development Unit of Pakistan, Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, Hussain Nadeem, renowned scholar, researcher and subject expert at Beaconhouse National University Zeshan Zaigham, senior journalists Mansoor Ali Khan, Dilawar Chaudhry, Salman Ghani, Irshad Arif and Sajjad Mir spoke at the event.
The speakers were of the view that the undeclared 'hybrid warfare' was being fought by almost all nations, but our society is being triggered again and again due to its emotional attachments, and people blindly following the unverified posts, fake news and trends on the social media tools.
“As the nature of politics and conflict evolves with emerging technology, a new buzzword has entered the lexicon of planners and strategists worldwide. Hybrid warfare, also labelled as fifth-generation warfare by some, is a concept born out of the blurring of lines between war and peace in a landscape, dominated by sophisticated information and communication tools and techniques,” they added.
Experts said that in hybrid scenarios, war is no longer declared. It is, instead, a seemingly perpetual and ever-evolving process that can involve economic manipulation, diplomatic pressure, media propaganda, proxies and insurgencies, cyber attacks, and the managing of a nation’s civilian populace through all kinds of media.
The term 'hybrid warfare' has been introduced to refer to the way war is conducted in the 21st century. In this theory, unconventional methods of fighting are used, such as propaganda, deception, sabotage, and other non-military methods.
During the workshop, the participants had a chance to discuss the history of hybrid warfare; experts defined that it was not new for the nations, but tools had been changed. Many nations had been dominated by capturing the mindsets of people and building a strong narrative through social media tools.
“Every individual, having a mobile phone, is a broadcaster, who is sharing and following posts without verifying which has damaged society badly. The enemies throw some appealing words and posts to trigger people and push content for their nefarious designs, and unfortunately, our people blindly copy and make trends,” they added.
The speakers said that in the past, Indian hackers tried many times to create anarchy and agitation in Pakistan, but the national institutions foiled their conspiracies through counter-attacks, so the people would have to be conscious of these elements of hybrid warfare.
Press Information Department Lahore Director General Shafqat Abbas thanked the guest speakers and said in concluding remarks that the aim of the training workshop was to enhance capacity and facilitate media persons to meet the challenges of hybrid warfare. He said: "The enemy was trying to create agitation and uncertainty in us, and every nation has to face the same challenges, but we would not lose hope as Holy Quran says, 'So, surely with hardship comes ease'."
The question-answer session was also held during the workshop while more than 40 journalists from different media groups participated in the event. At the end, the DG distributed certificates among the participants.
Director PID Bushra Bashir, Deputy Director Uzma Saleem, Information Officer Arsalan Tahir, Muhammad Awais Anwar, in-charge PIC Lahore, Mirza Hashim Baigh coordinator also attended the event.