With the assumption of his country’s top office, Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, infamous for his hawkish inclinations, kicked off a Machiavellian campaign to upset the regional balance of power. He is found to be obsessed with making India a regional hegemon, an aspiration cherished by his political mentors and ideologues. To further his mission, he was in need of a man having same offensive proclivities. He therefore, selected Ajit Doval, the former Director IB (intelligence Bureau) as National Security Advisor. Doval is a man notorious for his covert operations against Pakistan.

Mr. Doval is a hawk in all connotations of the word. This claim was substantiated by the former head of the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) A.S Daulat, who characterised Doval in one of his talks as “the hawkish Ajit Doval”. He is the prime mind behind the aggressive and offensive posture that India has adopted for the last few years.

When India upped the ante against China following the skirmishes on the border near Sikkim in the Doklam region, the state-run media in that country also described Doval as India’s “main schemer”. What is more is that Doval, like his boss Modi, is a key advocate and mouthpiece of Hinduvta ideology and aggressively promotes Hindu nationalism. That’s why, he is the blue eyed boy of Modi.

This duo (Doval- Modi) with hawkish tendencies is extremely dangerous for the region, especially for Pakistan. Doval was once stationed in Pakistan for seven years. He used to frequent mosques to offer prayers and befriended the local people in order to collect sensitive information. Doval is fluent in Urdu and also has an impressive knowledge of Islam. Given these individualities, he deems himself an unmatched security expert on Pakistani affairs. He further claims that living here in Pakistan; he has learnt all of its weaknesses.

To yearn for peace between India and Pakistan in the presence of Ajit Doval and his ilk is to ask for the impossible

In February 2014, while unleashing his nefarious plot against Pakistan, Doval said:” Pakistan is a neighbor which continues to bleed us. What if we get highly vulnerable domestic situation? How do we go about? We have to find a solution which is long-term, sustainable and affordable. So, first, accept reality. Second, define the problem.Then, let us make a response. If we go to a response, we have to understand what terrorism is. Generally, when we talk terrorism, it is senseless and inhumane. Yes it is, but these are tactical issues. Indeed, terrorism is a tactic to achieve ideological or political advantages.”

He, further, expatiated on “Political Islam” and asked: “So how to tackle Pakistan? You know, we engage enemy in three modes. One is a defensive mode. That is, you see what the chokidars and chaprasis do, i.e. to prevent somebody from coming in. One is defensive-offensive. To defend ourselves, we go to the place from where the offence is coming. We are now in defensive mode. The last mode is called offensive mode. When we come in defensive-offense, we start working on the vulnerabilities of Pakistan. It can be economic, it can be internal, it can be political; it can be international isolation, defeating their policies in Afghanistan, making it difficult for them to manage internal political lands security balance. It can be anything.

“I am not going into details. But you need to change the engagement from the defensive mode because in defensive mode you throw 100 stones on me, I stop 90. But 10 still hurt me and I can never win. Because, either I lose or there is a stalemate. You throw a stone when you want, you have peace when you want, and you have talks when you want. In defensive-offense we see where the balance of equilibriums lies.

“Pakistan’s vulnerabilities are many times higher than us. Once they know that India has shifted its gear from defense mode to defensive-offense, they will find that it is unaffordable for them.” Then came the line that went viral: “You may do one Mumbai, you may lose Balochistan.” It was a giveaway, an eye-opener. This is the heart of the Doval doctrine in all its clarity.

He added: “We don’t need Pakistan. Let Pakistan bleed with Taliban problem if they do not leave terrorism as an instrument of their state policy. The second thing is how you deal [with] terrorist organisations. Third thing is to deny them weapons, funds and manpower. Now funding may be denied with countering funds. If they have a budget of 500 crores, we can match it with 1,800 crores. So they would be on our side. They are mercenaries. Do you think they are great fighters? No. So, go for more covert steps. We will match them with money, we are a bigger country. So work amongst the Muslim organisations, they are more willing. There are only a few bad families. Last, make the paradigm shift; go for high technology, and in response, prepare for intelligence driven operations”, covertly, of course, in commando style.

What we can deduce from the Doval doctrine is that Peaceful co-existence, dialogue and thaw are the terms not found in the doval doctrine. The Doval doctrine is, in fact, premised on jingoism, hawkishness and aggression.

Therefore, we must orchestrate our counter strategy keeping in view the nefarious designs of our adversary. India would never let peace flourish in our country. It has been and would keep creating hurdles in the way of development and progress. Though it has utterly failed so far, India would employ all of its resources and diplomatic clout to isolate Pakistan in the comity of nations.

What is most alarming in Doval doctrine is the launching of covert operations against our country which India has been doing and would keep doing so. This time, they may be more devastating. To this end, it may connive with the proscribed terrorist outfits and the secessionist forces of Balochistan.

It is now an open secret that India is involved in creating unrest in Balochistan. It became public when the Balochistan Liberation Organisation (BLO) representative Balaach Pardili addressed a gathering in New Delhi on October 4, 2015. Pardili has been living in India since 2009. Nawabzada Hairbiar Marri, the leader of the Free Balochistan movement and head of the BLO and BLA contacted Pardili to represent him at public meetings in India.

In addition, covert operations choreographed by India in Balochaistan were confirmed by well-known Indian newspaper The Indian Express. It reported in September 2013 that the Indian army had destroyed documents of the so-called “Technical Service division” (TSD) before the army chief V.K Singh’s tenure ended. Sushant Singh wrote, “As per reports, the inquiry report (set up after his retirement) said that TSD had claimed to have carried out at least eight covert operations in foreign country. The TDS also allegedly claimed that in October and November 2011, it had paid money from secret service funds to try and enroll the secessionist chief in a province of neighbor country.” There were thus two operations, eight covert and one of bribery. Is it far-fetched to guess that the “foreign country” was Pakistan and the” province” was Balochistan?

To encapsulate, to yearn for peace between India and Pakistan in the presence of Ajit Doval and his ilk is to ask for the impossible. What we can expect is more covert operations in our country especially in Balochistan. Warmongers like Modi and Doval would leave no stone unturned to regain their lost hubris. Therefore, we need to remain alert, cautious and proactive …what is more important and the need of the hour is to forge unity among us; Since “By union “remarked Sallust “the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.”

Legal Practitioner-cum-columnist based in Quetta Balochistan

Published in Daily Times, March 18th 2019.