Abstract
This article examines India’s security challenges through the prism of historical conflicts, ideological adversaries, and evolving forms of warfare. It critiques the long-standing debate over China versus Pakistan as India’s primary enemy, arguing that while China presents a conventional strategic challenge, Pakistan constitutes a persistent ideological and proxy-war threat. Rooted in the Two-Nation Theory, Pakistan’s military–clerical establishment has sustained conflict through terrorism, insurgency, and deniable non-state actors. The article traces India’s restrained post-independence policies, the shift after 2014, and the emergence of “white-collar” terrorism. It concludes that countering Pakistan-sponsored proxy war requires a nationwide, intelligence-driven internal security strategy rather than escalatory kinetic conflict.
Keywords: Proxy war, Terrorism, White collar terror, Homegrown terror, Two-nation theory, Sleeper cells
