– By Aditya Sharma
– Zakir Husain Delhi College, Delhi University
Kashmir has been a historically conflicted region for more than half a century now, in recent memory. Death by a thousand cuts has been Pakistan’s strategy to instigate conflict in the region; India has until very recently, has had a majorly reactionary approach in the region and (by extension) with Pakistan, who for it’s part, has had a two pronged approach towards causing trouble in Kashmir- Firstly, it time and again instigates military conflict- sometimes directly on the International Lines of Control as it consistently violates ceasefires, sometimes via proxies who are fed intel by ISI- the Pakistani Intelligence service; this approach is countered by the Indian Military which is heavily deployed in Kashmir to counter, investigate, and neutralise such threats.
The second prong of the Pakistani approach, however, is slightly more intricate, and considerably harder to dismantle. After decades of instigation and conflict, Pakistan has been able to build an underlying framework of radicalisation- Islamic extremism and secessionism, one that is perpetrated using information warfare, that is, disinformation (deliberate dissemination of false information for deception), misinformation (deliberate dissemination of false information), distortion (manipulation of facts and information)- among the local Kashmiri.
The effectiveness of this prong shouldn’t be undermined- and the fact that even though overall, militancy has reduced in the recent years, but the statistic that since January 2020 there have been more local militants killed, rather that foreign militants, is a testament to this argument, and more importantly, a great cause for concern- even if the Indian military is able to successfully neutralise challenges to security in the region, as it has continued to, it would be an endless cycle of conflict and casualties for all parties involved, with Indians- the Kashmiri and the Soldier, being on both sides of the proverbial gun if New Delhi fails to break this perpetual cycle of hatred and radicalisation mechanised by Pakistan in the Valley.
In 2017, Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakshan published a report that mapped out the differences between disinformation, misinformation and malformation. Disinformation is the content that is intentionally false and designed to cause harm. Such content is motivated by three distinct goals: to make money; to have political influence, either foreign or domestic; and to cause trouble for the sake of it. They identified misinformation as false content shared by a person who does not realise it is false or misleading. Disinformation produced by a section of media gets amplified and spreads as misinformation when it is shared by people without realising it is false.
This information warfare is not present solely within the Valley, but at a global level as well.
One of the first times the issue of Kashmir was raised at a global stage was on 1 January 1948, India took the matter to the United Nations Security Council under Article 35 of the UN Charter, which allows the member states to bring to the attention of the UN matters endangering international peace. It claimed that Pakistani nationals and tribesmen had attacked Jammu and Kashmir, which is Indian territory. It requested the Security Council to prevent Pakistan from continuing its actions. India also stated that, despite holding the state’s legal accession, it was prepared to conduct a plebiscite to confirm the people’s wishes and abide by its results. In response, Pakistan denied involvement in the conflict and made counter-accusations claiming that India had acquired the state’s accession by “fraud and violence” and that it was conducting a “genocide” against Muslims, leading to the UNSC Resolution 47 being adopted in April 1948.
The claims made by Pakistan during the UNSC hearings were perhaps the foundations of propaganda warfare in Kashmir, as Pakistan has ever since been working towards manipulation, disinformation, and distortion of facts to build a narrative that suits its agenda- one that claims that India is the agressor, a state committed to the genocide of Muslims, one that works against the interests of the Kashmiri people, and constantly violates human rights.
Every time Pakistan makes a claim of India breaking ceasefire on the Line Of Control, of killing Kashmiris, illegally suppressing dissent in the region, the disinformation is amplified.
Such slanderous accusations, no matter how untrue, serve to undermine the moral authority and claim that India has over Kashmir, as well as weaken the position and stakes of the country in international relations in general, specifically in context of mobilising trans-national consensus against terrorism and other security threats; it also serves to negatively impact India’s threat perception within its South-Asian neighbourhood by portraying it as an aggressor, as well as to the superpowers who may perceive India as an aggressive, uncooperative state.
With the nation claiming a higher position in the global order, this nuisance value of Pakistani information warfare becomes more and more troublesome- the more important India becomes, Pakistan’s slander is proportionally amplified.
Countering Information Warfare- The Way Ahead
In July 2020, a 23 member delegation of the European Union Members of Parliament were given a ‘tour’ of sorts of Kashmir by the Indian Government, which saw the European Union observe the “situation on ground” in the region.
Bringing in representatives of such eminent multilateral bodies (other than the European Union, possibly the Quad, the UN, NATO, etc.) could be an incredibly productive way of solidifying India’s claims on Kashmir and exposing Pakistan’s actions in the region, as well as mobilizing global opinion in New Delhi’s favour.
Another way forward would be for India to undertake confidence building measures in Kashmir, for the world, and the Kashmiri, to see. Confidence building measures would go a long way in negating the premise of Pakistani disinformation and distortion- for example, a possible phased redeployment of the army, with potential decrease of troop presence from majorly secure zones within the Valley could be one way to go- the intricate logistics challenge with this idea would be to ensure the correct balance such that this redeployment does not negatively impact counter-insurgency operations going on in the Valley, and yet, is large enough to signify a visible shift in policy and an effort towards confidence-building; long argued amendments and ratifications in the Armed Forces Special Provisions Act (AFSPA) too (possibly making the army more accountable for their actions or introducing grievance redressal mechanisms for civilians under the purview of a civil judge instead of an army marshal) even perhaps a removal of it from certain regions, could serve as confidence building measures as well, ones that de-alienate the Kashmiris from the Indians. Politically too, returning to the people of Jammu and Kashmir their regional autonomy in the form of statehood could benefit the purpose.
Essentially the Indian state has to work towards regaining the moral claim and authority over Jammu-Kashmir, something that has been considerably eradicated due to years of conflict, at not only a global stage, but also within the region. Success in this regard would ideally set up the premise for New Delhi to forge a new way forward in Kashmir, as well as prime for a greater role in the new global great game.
References
http://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/disinfo/disinformation.html
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/17/837202898/comic-fake-news-can-be-deadly-heres-how-to-spot-it
https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/killing-militants-killing-militancy-internet-kashmir/
http://tverezo.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/PREMS-162317-GBR-2018-Report-desinformation-A4-BAT.pdf
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