• Pakistan’s conception/understanding of cyber sovereignty and related aspects is closely aligned with Turkiye’s conception/understanding.
• Pakistan has not allocated even on average 0.1% of its budget to cybersecurity in the past decade.

• There exist two camps - a US-led Western camp and another camp headed by China and Russia - regarding the formulation of rules of engagement in cyberspace.
• UNSC P5 members play a significant role in discouraging the formulation of an international legal instrument regarding cyberspace.

• Both countries acknowledge that more efforts need to be undertaken regarding the applicability of international law in cyberspace.
• Pakistan was the only country which officially acknowledged the deployment of offensive cyber operations during the May 2025 conflict.

• Pakistan is the only South Asian country to voluntarily support 11 norms related to responsible state behaviour in cyberspace and has publicized its position on the applicability of international law in cyberspace.

I talked about cyber rivalry between India and Pakistan with a special focus on the May 2025 conflict. Some key points from my remarks were as follows:
• DDoS attacks and website defacements overwhelmingly dominated the cyber dimension of the May 2025 conflict.

However, no cyber operation between the two countries has led to escalation, supported or replaced kinetic confrontation, or directly supported or preceded physical conflict.

By applying a non-linear cyber-domain escalation framework, I argue that each state accepts some level of probing and espionage as normal statecraft.

The conference was jointly organized by the Pakistan Navy War College’s Maritime Centre of Excellence and the University of Management and Technology’s Department of Political Science and International Relations.

The paper aims:
• To examine the dynamics of Indo-Pakistan cyber competition.

- Nabeel said that periodic aerial strikes inside Afghanistan remain a plausible military option for Islamabad.

.....referring to Islamabad’s growing friendship with the administration of US President Donald Trump, and Pakistan’s narrative that it is a victim of violence from its neighbours – India and Afghanistan – rather than a trigger-happy initiator of conflicts.

- “Opting for a conventional war against Afghanistan would damage the positive image Pakistan has cultivated over the past few months,” Fahad Nabeel, head of Islamabad-based Geopolitical Insights, told Al Jazeera.....

Special thanks to Muhammad Ammar Alam for the invitation.

The lecture, part of the ‘International Relations in the New Millennium’ course, focused on an introduction to cyber warfare and information warfare with a special emphasis on India and Pakistan. A brief overview of Open-Source Intelligence was also included.

Paper Presentation -https://www.academia.edu/144828815/COMBATING_INDIAN_DISINFORMATION_A_CRITICAL_EVALUATION_OF_PAKISTANS_RESPONSE_IN_THE_MAY_2025_CONFLICT

The paper argues that Pakistan’s resilience is hindered by fragmented legal frameworks, limited regulatory mechanisms, and reliance on a single official fact-checking unit.

The paper aims:
- To understand the motives, tactics, and actors in India’s information warfare
- To analyze Pakistan’s disinformation resilience during the conflict

Paper Presentation – www.academia.edu/144625182/UN...

It argues that the cyber ops observed leading up to and during the conflict reflect a recurring pattern of cyber hostilities surrounding Indo-Pakistani military or political flashpoints. However, unlike past trends, this time was notable for the extensive deployment and publicization of cyber ops.

The paper aims:
• To analyze the strategic objectives, operational tactics, and tangible impacts of cyber operations conducted by both states.
• To examine how these cyber operations influenced the trajectory of the conflict.