Winning the psychological warfare

The war is over. No Yes, the escalation is less apparent but the danger has not passed. These are the comments we are hearing as the recent initiation of war between India and Pakistan takes a military pause. The signs of normalization are weak, but there. LOC violations are lower, diplomats of the two countries cross border to resume offices and the threat of a moment of Modi madness recedes as the election schedule is announced. Thus the on ground offensive may actually dissipate but the on mind offensive will remain. Pakistan till date has won the military offensive with honours. But, it is the mental, psychological warfare that we have to fight and fight with strategy and systems.
Propaganda, Propaganda and Propaganda used to be the mantra for the mind control authorities dealing with wars and war games. Originally propaganda was considered use of various media to manipulate information according to a set agenda. The two World Wars are an example of this tool of warfare. Adolf Hitler was of the view that Germany lost the World War I due to the use of propaganda by the British. He thus took it to another level in the World War II. Most propaganda in Nazi Germany was produced by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels. The World War II saw continued use of propaganda as a weapon of war, building on the experience of WWI, by Goebbels.
The basis of the propaganda was Hitler's hypothesis as explained in his book Mein Kampf that "people will believe anything, provided they are told it often enough and emphatically enough, and that contradicters are either silenced or smothered in calumny." In today's world while the first part of his hypothesis is still true the second part of silencing contradictors is no longer valid. The media is no longer state controlled- it is a ginni out of the bottle and thus contradictors can neither be silenced nor smothered to become voiceless. In a world where stifling a sound and a voice is only a temporary state, the battle for the mind share has to become more subtle and more invisible.
The best propaganda is where there is no propaganda but the narrative is built. This means that in today's world the subtle art of brain seeping is done with indirect as well as direct effect. Pakistan needs to capitalize on this narrative changing opportunity where the over- reach on Indian propaganda has cracked open crevices in their glossy narrative packaging. Traditionally, Pakistan's approach has been on hiring lobby firms to get access to the main politicians in the US State Department and government. However that was, and will never be enough.
International strategic communications is an art and a science. The major task ahead is to identify the key perception development and narrative building markets. Aside from the USA many European countries are key targets. The UK, Germany, France, Italy in western world are loud trumpeters of world opinions especially on the terrorism narrative front. On the economic and religious front Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran, Qatar, are key regional facilitators. In the Asian countries aside from China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysis wield regional communication power.
Each country has a foreign policy that determines the narrative they support or oppose. Herein comes the role of the foreign embassies to identify key media players and connect to them to understand the pulse of the policy. The foreign embassies of Pakistan need a complete role redefinition. From facilitators of overseas Pakistanis and foreign visits they need to become the main media nerve center and marketers of Pakistan narrative in their respective regions. They must develop networks of main media houses, main columnists, main think tanks that develop the narrative about the Sub-Continent in their country. They have to report trends of the narrative so that a proactive approach can be made to ensure that the Pakistani versions are also being given space and importance.
While the embassies need to pass on the current political bent of mind in their countries, Pakistan needs to have a dedicated narrative building division that is preparing various strategic responses to these narratives. This division has to have a network of their own links in the international media of bloggers, researchers, writers who can be engaged to give authentic responses to counter allegations especially the false ones. India has a special division that handles 'Brand India'. Pakistan does not.
The Pulwama incident was tragic and unfortunate. But it is also a turning point in Pakistan's narrative. What is needed is to build up this narrative in a proactive and institutionalized way. Many countries that relied on hard power of military and economic might traditionally and were seen as aggressors and occupation obsessed have made efforts to change their perception successfully. Britain for long perceived as a colonial subjugator has changed its methods from inducing to seducing public opinion to be seen as a more peaceful and upright citizen of the world.
The war for the hearts and minds of people requires a different range of weapons. These weapons are more on how to place the right message with the right audience using the right tool. Digital communications plays a big part. So does crafting the right communication in the right tone and style. A small ploy with big impact is the search engine Google. What do you read when the name of a country is punched in matters. Pakistan has articles associated with terrorism or other negative news while India will has many positive aspects popping out on click. This is not accidental but intentional.
Pakistan needs to shift from default to design mode. If Brand Pakistan needs to be perceived as peaceful and progressive, the mind wars need to be more strategically sculpted. Which news need to be out and which news need to be curtailed should be a science based on an institutionalized approach that needs to have a MindShare cell under the auspices of the Prime Minister and the Foreign minister. This cell needs to be manned by experts of different specialties who create perceptual mapping of each international target audience and then target them with customized words, tools and reach. Never in recent history has Pakistan been given this chance to increase its international credibility. Chance needs to be converted into a choice of planned psychological warfare weaponry.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])