the Pakistani population, understanding the motivation of military commanders across the border will be the critical first step towards denying the adversary an opportunity to shape public perception that allows an outcome desired by the adversary.
At a more technical level, “perception management combines truth projection, operations security, cover and deception and psychological operations.” In this information-dominated global environment coupled with low-cost information technology, Pakistan’s adversaries are bent upon communicating directly to their intended target.
This communication is taking place in two forms: Black propaganda, which is “inherently deceitful information attributed to a source that was not responsible for its creation”; and grey propaganda whereby the objective is to “advance viewpoints that are in the interest of the originator but that would be more acceptable to target audiences than official statements.”
There is evidence that Pakistan’s adversaries intend to use every possible thought-influencing technology to achieve their military objectives. There is evidence that the ‘secret agenda of hidden persuaders’ is landing in Pakistan. There is evidence that subliminally embedded messages by Pakistan’s adversaries are being bought at face value by unsuspecting Pakistanis.
The British army is “creating a special force of Facebook warriors, skilled in psychological operations and use of social media to engage in unconventional warfare in the information age.” The Israel Defence Forces are “active on 30 platforms – including Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram – in six languages.”
Has Pakistan’s leadership recognizsd our vulnerability to perception control by foreign actors? Do we have an institutional mechanism which detects and then counteracts the perception management capabilities of our adversaries?
“The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities. It is best to win without fighting.” – Sun Tzu
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15hotmail.com. Twitter:saleemfarrukh