In the sordid propaganda wars, Pakistan's strategy stumbles

It is but obvious how social media have facilitated a level of propaganda, which is far more pernicious than anything previously experienced. The relentless assault on information threatens to undermine institutions, including a free press.

 

Ironically there is far less attention on how this information war is being played out, disrupting national security. 

 

In a Facebook post dated Sept 2 put up by Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Raheel Sharif is shown placing a wreath of flowers on the casket of a police official who attempted to stop suicide bombers at Mardan judicial complex but was killed in the ensuing gun battle.

 

14 other people were killed and 49 were wounded. The attack was claimed by a banned TTP faction Jamaatul Ahrar. This occurred just after a day ISPR Director General Lt Gen Asim Bajwa declared Operation Zarb-i-Azb in North Waziristan successful.

 

The comments on the post are indicative of the mindset of the general public opinion that would like to lay all terrorist activities and attacks within Pakistan on India’s doorsteps.

 

Amer Khan:  Today again Indian sponsored and backed terrorists attacked Pakistan and killed innocent Pakistanis....so what are waiting for, India its Murderer PM have no respect for human life...they are in business of spreading and sponsoring terrorism

 

Navid Anwer Butt: Sir kab tak khamoshi aur hum martay rahen gey sir do something brake corrupt spider network Nawaz Shareef is Indian raw,s rat please stop him and all others like ANP,MQM,ACHAKZAI ZARDARI what are you waiting for ?

 

Khizar Khan:  Take Hard decision India, Afghanistan and most important MQM if you save the beloved country our Pakistan

 

However, this hardly surprises as Raheel Sharif and the ISPR have consistently maintained that Modi and RAW have hostile designs to dislodge the overhyped China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, foment trouble in Balochistan and is hand in glove with Altaf Hussain of the MQM.

 

Speaking at a seminar on CPEC in Gilgit on Thursday, Raheel Sharif said: “Let Modi and RAW know that our borders are secure. We know our enemy and its conspirators and we will leave no stone unturned to defeat those plots.”

 

With Pakistan vowing to internationalise the Kashmir crisis, the Indian Prime Minister used the Independence Day speech to drop the ‘B’ bomb, expressing his support to Balochistan saying that Pakistan was suppressing the rights of the people in the province.

 

Modi’s speech and the earlier arrest of an alleged RAW operative Kulbushan Yadav from Balochistan’s Chaman area have strengthened the perception that India is meddling big time in Pakistan.

 

Propaganda has been the political tool for centuries but it has the risk of firing back and Pakistan’s raising the ante with other countries has not been timed well; most countries are trying to grapple with the new Jihadist and Islamist terror and Pakistan attempts to sell Burhan Wani, the Hizbul commander as a martyr has miserably failed.

 

Anti-Pakistan rhetoric has also sharpened in India with Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar saying that “going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell” and a sedition case filed against Indian actress Ramya who refused to apologise for praising Pakistan. “I respectfully disagree, but Pakistan is not hell,” said Ramya also the former MP from Karnataka’s Mandya constituency.

 

Then there are the warmer Indo-US ties being closely watched in Pakistan. The absence of any comments on the ongoing unrest and violence in Kashmir by the US and instead asking Pakistan to do more has caused further anguish to Pakistani security officials and civilian government.

 

“It is clear that Pakistan has more work to do in order to push harder against its indigenous groups engaged in extremist activists, said US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday in Delhi.

 

Perhaps it is time for ISPR to update its social media page!

 

Kishalay Bhattacharjee is a senior journalist and author. His most recent book is Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters (Harper Collins 2015). The views expressed here are his own.