New Frontlines of Terrorism and the Pakistan Equation

The Pakistani deep state has invested in non-kinetic warfare. This shift signifies a new logic: if territory is difficult to breach, minds become the next terrain of war

- LT GEN SYED ATA HASNAIN (RETD)

has served as the visible boundary between war and peace, infiltration and prevention, terror and counter-terror. It has also been the default focal point of Indian military strategy and Pakistan's proxy hybrid war, primarily kinetic. However, in 2025, the paradigm is shifting quite drastically. The LoC, while still active, and the kinetic domain in general, may no longer be the main front in the battle for Kashmir's stability. Instead, the new war fronts are dispersed, amorphous, and dangerously embedded within the digital, psychological, and ideological landscape. This is the classic grey zone strategy that has been long expected to manifest.

At the heart of this shift lies a question with major implications for India's internal security calculus: Does Pakistan still hold remote control over Kashmir's terrorism? Recent indicators suggest that Pakistan's ability to infiltrate terrorists across the LoC physically has been severely degraded. Better fencing, aggressive patrolling, a robust counter-infiltration posture, and enhanced surveillance capabilities—both aerial and electronic—have reduced large-scale infiltration to a trickle. The classical model of launching fidayeen squads, guiding them across the Pir Panjal, and sustaining them with local overground workers is not easily feasible in most sectors. Yet, this does not mean that the threat has receded. Instead, the theatre has simply moved.