By Bader Al Hussain
South Asian which mainly includes Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, has its own unique security and military doctrine and threat perception. The threat discernment has not always been defined by the capability of the adversary but by the direction from which it is emanating. Even today, the precedent continues after taking into consideration, the ground realities and also due to prevailing security conditions. In order to understand this unique peculiarity, we need to analyze it in retrospect.
Starting from classical period, the Delhi Sultanate conquered India from the west, initiating from the northern areas and ruled India from 1206 A.D. to 1527 A.D. They were successful in quelling attacks of Mongols from central Asia, which is in north-west of India, but were also weakened by it. Subsequently, Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur, who was then ruler of Kabul invaded Delhi in a Battle of Panipat, due to his superior generalship, vast experience in warfare, effective strategy and appropriate use of artillery, in which Ibrahim Lodi was killed on the battlefield.Other empires included, Vijayanagara Empire which rose into prominence as a culmination of endeavors against Islamic invasion from north-east by the end of thirteenth century. It lasted till 1646 after facing major setbacks militarily by Deccan sultanates. Moreover, Deccan Sultanates were also conquered by Mughals till 1686.
Mughals ruled the subcontinent for about 300 years, eventually they embarked to enfeeble in eighteenth century after the death of Aurangzeb. One of the contributing factors of abatement was incessant invasion attempt of Nadir Shah of Persia and Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan from the west.
After the partition of Indian in 1947, India regarded Pakistan as its arch-enemy. Even though, at that time, Indian was ten to seven times copious militarily and economically than its rival but had never renounce it as an enemy. Even after 1971 war, when East and West Pakistan was disintegrated into two different countries i.e. Bangladesh and Pakistan, the obsession of India’s towards Pakistan continues. Pakistan rightfully considers India as an existential threat since its inception because of activities of Indian armed forces along Indo-Pak border. Pakistan excogitates India on the basis of capability not otherwise.
Historically, whenever attack or offensive is launched on sub-continent it came through western or north-western front through the lands of Iran or Afghanistan with an exception of Britons; therefore, whether it is Pakistan or any other country it views its western borders very sensitively. In case of Pakistan, the theory of strategic depth and strategic defiance was envisaged by Pakistan armed forces to protect its interests on western fronts.
Today excessive force is deployed by Pakistan to stabilize its western region, even though, terrorist threat from that are is not as grave where artillery, fighter jets and tanks has to be deployed. According to some scholars, during Afghan Jihad in 1980s, if Pakistan would not have thwarted the communist through its Islamic Ideology, then even India could not stopped it. And the whole sub-continent might have come under soviet influence.
It is understandable why India is exercising its dominion in Afghanistan, through which it is destabilizing Pakistan, weakening its defense deterrence in order to encroach upon its hegemony in the region as it sees herself as a rising Superpower in the global arena of multi-polar world. Ironically, India enunciated China as its future rival both militarily and economically but has maintained eighty percent of its troop’s deployment against western border i.e. Pakistan. All its fighter squadrons and forward air bases are aimed towards Pakistan.
After the nuclearization of South Asia, its stability depends upon the resolution of Kashmir dispute which is only possible through dialogue with the consent and aspirations of Kashmiris on both sides.
The writer is currently a student at NBS
