CGSS organises conference on hybrid and grey zone threats to Pakistan

By APP
June 09, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The Centre for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS) arranged an International Conference on “Compound (Hybrid and Grey Zone) Threats to Pakistan” here on Friday.

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The aim and focus of the conference was to provide an opportunity for members of the society and policymakers to understand the nature of grey-zone hybrid threats, says a press release. The conference discussed mechanisms to combat such threats, and tackle the compound threats for Pakistan and to come up with an extended policy framework to tackle the situation.

Chief Guest of the Conference General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), shared his views about the changing nature of warfare that is shifted from conventional warfare to hybrid warfare.

He further stated that there are many factors behind the evolution of hybrid warfare, mainly the moral standards, transformation of framework in international relations and the state to state interaction. He said Grey zone challenges are inherently ambiguous in nature. They feature unconventional tactics, from cyber-attacks, to propaganda and political warfare, to economic coercion. He stated that these threats are not new and in case of Pakistan these have been externally supported to sabotage the economic and security framework of the country.

“This is a world of fake news. We all must join our hands together to strengthen the state institutions along with the global and regional alliance. It is an undeniable fact that economic strength has direct impact on the military strength,” he said.

Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, former special secretary Finance and dean Nust, presented speech on Coercive Economic Measure: A Way to Achieve Political Objectives in Grey-zone Warfare. He stated that Pakistan is in the midst of hybrid warfare for the last one decade but is has accelerated in the last four to five years.

“People of Pakistan have not yet realised what has happened or is going to happen in future because it is the beauty of hybrid warfare that it is ambiguous,” he said. Major General Udaya Annesly Perera (R), former commandant Defence Services Command and Staff College, Sri Lanka Army, presented speech on Role of Insurgencies in Proxy Warfare.

He shared his experiences from the army, in decorating the image of proxy warfare and his contributions to hybrid warfare. The speaker from China Hai Zhao, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, Chinain, in his speech provided a strategic analysis to forecast the future of Grey zone conflict, and how this will impact the changing world order.

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