11 August 2020, NIICE Commentary 5805
Sindhu Dinesh
The International Security environment in contemporary times is facing several challenges amidst increasing vulnerabilities. One prominent threat is the rise in asymmetric conflicts. “Asymmetry” is a term used to explain the conflicts between entities whose military power and strategic capability differ significantly. The Joint Strategy Review of 1999, outlaid the definition of asymmetry as “something done to military forces to undermine their conventional military strength and; that it has both negative and positive connotations as well as short-term and long-term impacts.”
South Asia has witnessed several instances of asymmetric conflicts in the past. This article traces the evolution of such conflicts and throws light on how that has far-fetched impacts on the region.
Multipronged Asymmetric Conflicts
According to Jahangir Arasli, asymmetry can be defined as willingness and ability of an inferior (weaker) adversary to apply all its strength available against softest points of a superior (stronger) adversary for the sake of accomplishment of the desired strategic ends by delivering any physical, political, economic and mass psychological damage or disruption possible to a latter side.
Asymmetric conflict has manifested into different forms recently including insurgency uprisings, low-intensity conflicts, terrorism, and religious extremist activities. Although each of these can be inter-related, they are characterised by distinct attributes in the context of their genesis, nature, objectives, impact, targets and sustenance. The use of violence by the non-state actors is often to seek and first legitimise violence and then subsequently translate the legitimisation gained into moral superiority against the state and its representatives. Several regions in the world today are either or both perpetrators and victims of asymmetric conflict including South Asia.
Majority of the South Asian countries have encountered each one of these aspects of asymmetric conflict; especially the countries of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan; particularly since the latter half of the twentieth century onwards. Most of the asymmetric conflicts in South Asia are a consequence of its own domestic issues, lack of effective governance and politicisation of issues. This includes the asymmetric threats from the Taliban faction and other offshoots in Afghanistan; Left Wing Extremism, Kashmir militancy, North-east insurgency in India; Balochistan insurgency and anti-Ahmadiyyas movement in Pakistan; Tamil militancy and insurgency in Sri Lanka; Maoist elements in Nepal; and religious extremism in Bangladesh. These issues due to their geographical proximity can be seen as transnational spill-overs too.
Asymmetric conflicts are not new to the region, and have evolved into more sophisticated expressions with technological advances and modernisation. A typical example of an asymmetric attack is the April 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka which killed nearly 270 people and the responsibility was claimed by a local militant Islamist group with suspected foreign ties.
Apart from Nepal, that was never colonized, most of the countries in South Asia attained independence only in the twentieth century, with the last being the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. As new democracies and sovereign political systems, in the process of consolidating their governments, a few marginalised sections of society such as the Tribals were neglected; and also ensuring uniform development has been a challenge. This primarily is the cause for insurgencies in some of these countries. According to Sanjeeb Mohanty, religious extremism in South Asia, apart from being a “potent source of conflict” is also a guise of “politicised violence” in the region.The region of South Asia was among the first ones to witness the use of ‘suicide – bombings’ as a form of asymmetric strike by extremist factions. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka is regarded as one of the most active intensive employers of suicide – bombers. Another dimension to be noted is, the LTTE is also one of the first to engage women in such missions. “Black Tigers”, a fighting cadre of LTTE was a squad of men and women particularly trained and indoctrinated to engage in suicide – bombing.
Another significant trend of asymmetric attack in the region, has been the assassination of political personalities by agitated individuals as well as organised groups. Extremist groups have besides targeting state apparatus, used civilians as a medium to coerce the state to adhere to their demands. All of these pose a challenge to the region’s stability and security. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the yearly fatalities caused due to asymmetric attacks in the region were 16,516 in 2018 and 13,467 in 2019.
Consistent efforts have been undertaken by all the countries in South Asia at an individual and bilateral level to ensure security against the asymmetric threats they are exposed to. Notable examples include India’s efforts in the creation of police special forces ‘Greyhounds’ trained in counter-guerrilla warfare specifically to deal with left-wing extremism; formation of ‘National Counter Terrorism Centre’ by Maldives; training provided to the Bhutanese security forces by India in executing anti-insurgency operations; and signing of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) between India and Pakistan. Countries have also taken measures to resolve the root causes of the issues. International organisations like the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces have also aided the region’s efforts in dealing with asymmetric attacks. Although, the South Asian countries have created a platform together ‘South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’ (SAARC), they are yet to explicitly initiate regional level measures to tackle the asymmetric threats that they face.
Dealing with constant asymmetric attacks can indeed be a challenge, primarily because of its very nature. This was best summarised in 1969, when Henry Kissinger remarked, “The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose”. Each country in the region has had its share of acquaintance with asymmetric conflicts in different time-frames and in varying intensities. Needless to say, the South Asian countries may not be able to obliterate asymmetric conflicts but mitigating them is the need of the hour.
