War of technology

According to the latest reports received from the tense region of Middle East, advanced technology has been used in recent attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Reportedly, hundreds of modern pager communication devices mysteriously exploded simultaneously in different areas on Tuesday. As a result of this, at least nine people, including an eight-year-old girl, have lost lives, while 2,800 people have been injured. In another wave of mysterious blasts related to communication devices, at least 20 more people were killed and 450 wounded in Lebanon.

Per media reports, Iranian ambassador to Beirut Mojtaba Omani was also wounded in recent pager devices explosions. Some sources claimed that similar mysterious pager blasts have also been carried out in Syria. Although it is not clear exactly how the pager devices were detonated simultaneously, Israel is being blamed responsible for the blasts. It is further reported that Hezbollah officials, in order to minimize the risk of smartphone location tracking technology, had ordered these pager devices from abroad. There are speculations that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad managed to plant explosives in the devices, which were detonated simultaneously by sending a secret code message.

However, the founder of the manufacturing company has categorically denied their involvement. Meanwhile, complete silence has been adopted by Israel. Undoubtedly, Israel has a long history of using the latest warfare technology in the form of automated drones, car bombs and remote control machine guns and detonating devices to eliminate anti-Israeli elements. Most recently, the mysterious targeting of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was a unique event of its kind. In the past, Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsin Fakhrzadeh was also murdered by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in Tehran.

From ancient times to modern times, human beings have indulged in various kinds of conflicts. However, war reflects a complex and tough situation in which sometimes one side appears to have the upper hand and sometimes the other is declared the ultimate winner. In the ancient era, the warrior who exercised the sword more bravely managed to win the war.

If we study modern history, two great wars were fought in the last century. During these world wars, human blood was shed like water, but finally the parties agreed that wars are not a solution to any problem and that lasting solutions to conflicts can be found through dialogue.

Historically, the Palestine conflict began after the defeat of the Ottoman Caliphate in World War I, while the official establishment of the Zionist state after World War II intensified the conflict. Today, Israel, enjoying the support of Western players, is obviously far ahead of the Palestinians and its Arab neighbours in terms of modern technology. However, the October 7 attacks are proof of Israel’s intelligence failure to devise a fool-proof defence strategy.

Today, the international community, especially the United Nations, has a great responsibility to safeguard the world from the ravages of another great war and play its due role in resolving the Middle East conflict amicably. We must not forget that now the battlefield of the 21st century is equipped with cyber expertise, artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons and digital technologies.

In today’s modern information age, technology is not the legacy of any person or state. If today one side is using mysterious technology freely, then tomorrow the same technology may be in the hands of others. We should think about the day when mobile phones in our pockets and hands also start to explode in a similar way.

The writer is a member of the National Assembly and patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council.

He tweets/posts @RVankwani