Pakistan's dependence on proxy warfare backfires, fuels extremism within: Report

Islamabad, April 25 Pakistan considers proxy warfare as a cost-effective tool to pressurise India with an aim to inflict sustained, low-intensity damage that would drain India's resources, unsettle internal stability, and elevate disputes like Kashmir to the global stage. While conventional war carries the risk of escalation and defeat, proxy conflict offers a way to sustain hostilities without triggering the nuclear threshold that emerged after both countries developed nuclear capabilities, a report said on Saturday.

"For nearly eight decades, the India–Pakistan conflict has been defined not just by wars, but by something more persistent and less visible: a sustained strategy of proxy warfare. While conventional battles have come and gone, a quieter, more enduring campaign has continued beneath the surface, one that relies on insurgency, terrorism, and hybrid tactics to challenge India without triggering full-scale war. This long-running approach is not accidental or episodic. It reflects a deliberate strategic choice that has evolved, adapted, and persisted across generations of Pakistani leadership," a report in 'India Narrative' detailed.

"The origins of this approach can be traced back to the very birth of the two nations in 1947. The first major confrontation over Jammu and Kashmir did not begin as a formal declaration of war but as a covert operation involving tribal militias and irregular fighters. These forces, supported and guided by elements within Pakistan, were intended to alter the political reality on the ground before India could respond. Even in its earliest phase, the conflict revealed a pattern: the use of deniable actors to achieve strategic objectives while maintaining a degree of plausible deniability,” it added.

According to the report, by operating through non-state actors, Pakistan has often been able to evade direct accountability, even when evidence of involvement surfaces. This ambiguity, it said, blurs the line between state and non-state responsibility, complicating international responses. Although global bodies have identified and sanctioned various militant groups operating in Pakistani soil, uneven enforcement has enabled the underlying networks to survive and adapt.

The report noted that continued reliance on the proxy conflict raises broader questions about its effectiveness. Despite imposing costs on India, this strategy by Islamabad has failed to achieve its core strategic objective of altering the status of Kashmir.

Instead, it has deepened hostility, hardened positions, and narrowed the scope for diplomatic engagement. At the same time, the report said, the dependence on militant groups has backfired on Pakistan itself, contributing to domestic instability and the spread of extremism within its own borders.

"Yet the strategy endures. This is partly because it offers a way to maintain pressure without risking outright war and partly because it has become embedded in the institutional thinking of Pakistan’s security establishment. Changing such a deeply rooted approach is not simply a matter of policy adjustment; it requires a fundamental shift in strategic culture,” it stated.

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