Two SSG commandos had been killed by Indian Army at Gurez sector. Since last few days there have been sporadic reports of SSG commandos being deployed to the border, for carrying out BAT attacks. Pakistani soldiers cross fences to kill and mutilate the bodies of our soldiers. Such cock-a-snook BAT attack, in the past has been resorted to by Pakistani Army, whenever they faced a threat of conventional war with India or whenever Pakistani Army’s morale took a dip. Myriads of such inexpensive tactics are used by Pakistani Army in an attempt to have psychological dominance over India.
Pakistan is at the verge of an economic apocalypse, yet the gluttonous Pakistani army has the temerity to funnel funds to terrorist groups created by ISI. Earlier this year, Pakistani terror groups moved their bases close to International border near Kunar (Afghanistan) to avoid blacklisting by FATF (Financial Action Task Force). Pakistani government had been busy since last few months finding ways to dodge such circumstances, yet last week the terror watchdog blacklisted Pakistan for its non-compliance to the FATF’s instructions.
Pic credit: Google map
Ergo, under such circumstances, Pakistan Army relies on ways to counter India which do not hurt it monetarily, yet provide it the psychological dominance over the perceived enemy. Last week, there were reports of Pakistan deploying close to 100 SSG commandos and Afghani terrorists to the border which were later denied by the Pakistani Prime minister, Mr Imran Khan.
Pakistan Army’s parsimonious ways to counter India
Guerrilla warfare, by definition, is an irregular warfare conducted by small combatant groups composed of paramilitary personnel, armed civilians etc that resorts to ambushes, hit-and-run tactics and petty warfare, against a larger and traditional military. America, which has the mightiest and biggest military, in the world burnt a hole in its reputation when it could not effectively counter the guerrilla warfare in Vietnam, and had to pull back after bearing colossal amount of damage to its military. On the slippery economic slope that Pakistan is in right now, using these tactics serve well for it, as it can not afford to wage a conventional war against India. Now that its nuclear bluff has also been called out by Indian think tanks, the enemy state is left with no option other than intensifying its guerrilla war against India.
BAT or the border action team of Pakistan, is largely composed of SSG commandos and terrorists. The operations carried out by BAT helps stitch the gap between its economic restrains and insatiable military ambitions. Their BAT teams have sporadically managed to cross border, kill and mutilate Indian soldiers. Almost on all such occasions, Indian Army, has retaliated to such ambushes, at times against the political will, causing impressive wounds of humiliation to Pakistan Army. Since Pakistan has reputation of not accepting bodies of its soldiers back, such guerrilla groups can be conveniently bracketed as violent non state actors, VNSA.
Another method that Pakistan Army uses is guerrilla snipping. A sniper is reckoned as a force multiplier by military strategists, as the sniper can not just help take down important assets (human or otherwise) of the enemy, but also prevents any loss on sniper’s side.
Adding wind to Pakistan Army’s torn sails, is its media wing called ISPR (inter services public relations), which wages a (dis)information war against India. DGISPR, Maj Gen Ghafoor’s social media account, and other ISI run accounts, keep radiating waves of fake news campaign against India. Different social media platforms have now began to take down such accounts after Modi government rebuked them for giving audience to propaganda.
Kashmir and scrapping of 370
Pakistan woke up to an “earth shattering” news on August 5, when the government of India headed by Prime Minister Modi, took the landmark decision to purge Jammu & Kashmir’s special status by scrapping article 370. It was like rubbing salt into the wounds of Pakistan army, which had received a huge setback in the valley after the terror structure which it had created in Kashmir over last 3 decades, collapsed like a house of cards, after Indian defence forces mercilessly hunted down terrorists trained by ISI. With Kashmir on its way to returning to normalcy, Pakistan Army saw existential crisis descending on itself, forcing it to amp up its game against India. To assuage Pakistani people’s anger against its army and to prevent further plunging of morale of Pakistani soldiers, the higher echelons of Pakistani establishment decided to use BAT action against Indian soldiers.
Nuggets of wisdom that India gets from the above observations is –Pakistan will try to increase the cost of conflict for India. It will resort to inexpensive ways of carrying out clandestine attacks against India, be it cheap IED blasts to hurt our soldiers, clandestine snipping, instigating violence by inserting wedges between different communities in India, promoting Khalistanis or carrying out psychological warfare by “influencing” Indian media. Skulduggery is the only means for an emasculated military organization called Pakistan Army, to survive against a behemoth that Indian Army is.
