CYBER-EQUATION BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN: PRETEXT OF STABILITY-INSTABILITY PARADOX

Abstract

Humanity has evolved over the centuries, inventing new offences and counter-defense, Cyber-security threats are one of the newly emerged challenges of the 21st century that the lessons of the past are unaccustomed to dealing with. India and Pakistan have a
history of complex rivalry. However, adding the cyber-security threats into the matrix complicates it further. The research evaluates the impacts and prospects of the cybersecurity equation between the two mutually deterred nuclear rivals. From the standpoint of the stability-instability paradox, the research has explained the strategic balance between the two states in general and in the domain of cyber-security in particular. Research is exploratory as it explores the linkage between two variables (The cyber-security equation and the stability-instability paradox). It follows a qualitative design and case-study method. Data has been obtained from secondary
sources. Evidence presented in the paper suggests an increase in the number of cyberattacks and counter-attacks between India and Pakistan, with an overall disturbance of the strategic balance. The hegemonic aspirations of India and the uncompromising defensive posture of Pakistan can pave the way for the rupture of cyber-brinkmanship into a nuclear escalation. Therefore, the study proposes that both states acknowledge the need to establish cyber-security regimes and take preventive measures to spare the future from the shadow of unseen wars.