With the ever changing times, requirements also change for any sphere connected to life. From individual capacity to national interest security of life and property demands absolute attention which spirals down to the idea and subsequent manifestation of defence. The generic notion demands further minute detailing and contemplation.
With the rise of concept of distancing from conventional warfare, and adopting any means and methods that render avoidance of compromising personnel and equipment, every sector is now being scratched and made use of, both in terms of attack and defence. From abuse of politics to propaganda in media, from exploitation of social engineering to manipulation of cyber sphere, and from abuse of artificial intelligence to general social media, Legal sector is no exception for manipulation.
Lawfare is an emerging tool that needs separate and focused attention. In generic terms it is a tool and a tactic used in order to achieve your interest through legal system. In early usage of this connotation it was concerned with in reference to affairs like divorce laws, courtroom advocacy, colonialism, airfare for lawyers and other like matters, but later it gained prominence in the sphere of national security. In latter part of the concern, it was first used in a military strategy book “unrestricted warfare” written by two officers, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui of the People’s Liberation Army who coined the idea of possibility of effecting policy in nation-states through proxy and achieving strategic ends using lawfare as the tool. The term was then popularized in modern jargon by the then Air Force colonel (and later General) Charles Dunlap, in the influential 2001 paper. He defined lawfare as use of law as a weapon of war, and framed it as the newest feature of 21st century combat. The term is now being explored as a strategy of using law flora for military and diplomatic advantage, which opens room for exploration of legal systems directed in the line of national security.
As the dictates of combat dynamics are continuously changing, exploitation of the concept of non-contact warfare is winning global attention to it. Southeast Asia is no exception to its expansion where hardcore opponents India and Pakistan are at a never ending stage of conflict. India’s strategy to fight against her enemy does not focus on employing its kinetic elements from the frontal forces any longer, rather it has shifted its focus on using tools which avoid and reduce use of personnel and equipment to subdue her enemy. Exploiting lawfare India opted for a lawfare approach, lobbying before the UN and in the US to against Pakistan in mfulfil its obligations under UN mumbai attack case. Also the Kashmir conflict was subjected to the same approach where they focused on intimidating and affecting policy.
This leads us to contemplation and mind-mapping as to what avenues lawfare has to offer, and how can we effectly make use of it for national security.