Reader Edit: Why India should brace up for Unrestricted Warfare?

India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar’s recent statement has triggered quite a debate. In his words, “Why should I bind myself? I should say I am a responsible nuclear power and I will not use it irresponsibly. This is my thinking. It has not changed in the government. It is my concept. As an individual, I also get a feeling. I am not saying you have to use it first. Hoax can be called off. From the day the surgical strike happened, no threat has come. They realised that we can do something which is not well-defined.”, he said. 

Whether or not the country changes its nuclear policy can be a certain topic of discussion, but in all probability this particular statement that India is capable of doing something that is not ‘well –defined’ is a welcome change. India is arming herself with unpredictability to suit changing times.  

In today’s time and age, fighting beyond the contours of definition will be the way forward. No blood will be shed but the damage caused will be heavy. In this case, many strategists will just be analysing a part of India’s Defence Minister’s statement which in essence meant that India is preparing itself to do things that may not be well – defined. ‘Unpredictability’ will be the guiding principle. Taking cue from China’s master strategist Sun Tzu who has said ‘one must win the war even before it is fought’, countries will unleash warfare without blood being shed. 

Now for some case in points. 

On October 20, 2016, it was reported that India underwent the biggest data breach to date with as many as 3.2 Million debit card details reportedly stolen from multiple banks and financial platforms. The massive financial breach hit India's biggest banks including State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis. The report which was widely carried across multiple news platforms also has quoted sources saying that the malware took almost six weeks to be detected, compromising transactions that took place during this period. 

On October 21,2016,  it was again reported, a distributed denial-of-service attack — a common attack that floods a server with traffic so it can’t perform — hit the domain name system managed by the popular provider Dyn, disrupting user access to some of the web’s biggest sites, including Twitter, Etsy, GitHub, Reddit and the New York Times was not spared either.

On November 6, 2016, it was reported that the Indian embassy websites in seven different countries namely, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Mali, South Africa, Libya, and Malawi have been hacked, and attackers have leaked personal data, including full name, residential address, email address, passport number and phone number, of Indian citizens living abroad.

To all these attacks, there has been one standard line of response by those investigating. “The nature and source of the attack is still under investigation.”

In June 2011, Stuxnet, a computer virus was seen lurking in databanks of power plants, traffic control systems, and factories around the world. This virus was said to be 20 times more complex than any previous virus code. The virus had the capability to switch of oil pipelines or even nuclear reactors. Stuxnet was a weapon, an open source weapon, a first to be made entirely by a code. 

Be it in 2011 or now through debit card attacks or striking global websites in almost consecutive days, the inference is clear, whether one likes it or not, we are at war and civilian technology is being employed as military weapons without blood being shed. As days go by, the intensity of such wars will only get bigger and better. Thus it is time India braces up to warfare being fought not just frontally but also to other confrontations fought asymmetrically or through multidimensional attacks on almost every aspect of social, political, and economic life. It is in this context that the statement of fighting undefined war assumes great significance. Two of China’s finest military strategists, Col. Qiao Liang and Col. Wang Xiangsui term this as ‘Unrestricted Warfare’, in their words this form of warfare has ‘no rules and nothing is forbidden’. 

The United States too has in its defence documents has clearly stated that the different types of war fighting that will take place in the future, will be, information warfare, precision warfare, joint operations and significantly military operations other than war.  

In 1999, China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Arts, Culture and Publishing House came out with a forewarning at least 3 years before 9/11 attacks : The vast majority of development plans of the present American military, such as those of the army for the 21st century, are all focussed upon dealing with an enemy with conventional heavy armour, and if the United States encounters an enemy with low-level technology, an intermediate –level enemy, or one with equivalent power at the beginning of the next century, then the problem of insufficient- frequency bandwidth will possibly occur. Actually, with the next century still not yet arrived, the American military has already encountered trouble from insufficient – frequency bandwidth brought on by the three above- mentioned enemies. Whether it be the intrusions of hackers, a major explosion at the World Trade Centre, or a bomb attacking by Bin-laden, all of these greatly exceed the bandwidths understood by the American military. This is because they have never taken into consideration and have even refused to consider means that are contrary to tradition and to select measures of operation other than military means.

So, in essence, the battlefield today is omnipresent and it is everywhere. It is best to recognise and be aware of it. 

Does the battlefield have any form? Is one aware that such a battlefield with no rules exists? Is one equipped to fight this asymmetric battle? 

Delving deep, there are several forms to‘Unrestricted Warfare’. Col. Qiao Liang and Col. Wang Xiangsui have enlisted different types of unrestricted warfares, some of these as Financial Warfare, which means, entering and subverting banking and stock markets and manipulating the value of a targeted currency. Second, Smuggling Warfare, which means, sabotaging a rival country’s economy by flooding its market with illegal goods, and jeopardizing a local economy by flooding the market with pirated products. 

Third, Cultural Warfare means influencing the cultural biases of a targeted country by imposing your own cultural view points.  Fourth, Media and Fabrication Warfare, means, manipulating foreign media either by comprising or intimidating journalists or getting access to another country’s airwaves and imposing your own perspectives. 

Fifth, International Law warfare, which means, joining international or multinational organisations in order to subvert their policies and the interpretation of legal rulings. Network warfare which revolves around dominating information systems. Environmental and economic warfare are some of the many more types of unrestricted warfare that can be used in today’s time and age. 

These are some examples of how the strong can easily be defeated by simple merciless methods. 

The awakening to guard oneself and fight such forms of unrestricted warfare can start just by recognising that such forms of warfare exist and that the boundaries to warfare will not be defined as the normal convention goes.

Today every enemy will move beyond the contours of traditional warfare and as Sun Tzu says the thumb rule will be “Strike where the enemy is not prepared, take him by surprise”

And this is why Manohar Parikkar’s statement even though personal in capacity offers a glimmer of hope that India may be moving beyond the contours of defined warfare and may well be preparing ground to confront the various forms of ‘unrestricted warfare’ and to me this should be the guiding principle for India’s strategic doctrine in years to come. 

The author is the Deputy Director of the India Foundation – A New Delhi based think tank. The views expressed by the author are strictly personal.