ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top military commander Field Marshal Asim Munir on Tuesday stressed the need for “multi-domain preparedness” to counter a broad spectrum of security challenges facing the country, saying they ranged from conventional military threats to cyber, economic and information warfare.

Pakistan’s security environment has remained volatile following a brief but intense conflict with India earlier this year, when the two nuclear-armed neighbors exchanged missile and artillery fire while deploying drones and fighter jets over four days before a ceasefire was brokered by the United States.

Pakistan has also been battling militant violence in its western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan and receive backing from India. Both Kabul and New Delhi have rejected claims.

The military has also warned that disinformation constitutes a new form of security threat, prompting tighter regulations that critics say risk suppressing dissent. Munir also pointed to a “complex and evolving” global, regional and internal security landscape while addressing participants in the National Security and War Course at the National Defense University (NDU).

“These challenges span conventional, sub-conventional, intelligence, cyber, information, military, economic and other domains, requiring comprehensive multi-domain preparedness, continuous adaptation and synergy among all elements of national power,” he said, according to a military statement.

“Hostile elements increasingly employ indirect and ambiguous approaches, including the use of proxies to exploit internal fault lines, rather than overt confrontation,” he continued, adding that future leaders must be trained and remain alert to recognize, anticipate and counter these multi-layered challenges.

Munir also lauded the NDU for producing strategic thinkers who he said were capable of translating rigorous training and academic insight into effective policy formulation and operational outcomes.