This is a war scenario that I've been thinking about for some time and writing too. (All thanks to BRF addiction) I'm only an amateur and it's my first attempt at writing anything like this. Although I try my best, there'll be some mistakes. I hope not too many.
Enjoy it if you like.

PS:-Somebody please suggest some good title.

Chapter 1

11:00 Hours
26 Oct 2012
National Stadium
Karachi, Pakistan
 

Mushtaq Naqvi, son of Pakistani President, Saqlain Naqvi was going to make his first public speech to mark his formal entry in to the troubled nation's political arena. His entry in to politics wassupposed to  revive the sagging fortunes of his father and party PPP before national elections in 2013.  PPP was in  trouble from many fronts, most serious of them being their ongoing spat with powerful factions in Pakistani Army.

  A popular saying among people interested in international affairs is, “ Every Country has Army, Pakistani Army has a country ”.

 Naqvi was never a really popular President to begin with. He got the post for one reason only, his wife, former PM  Samina Naqvi was assassinated  while campaigning before elections in December 2007. One among countless conspiracy theories circulating in Pakistan suggested that the assassination was carried out on the orders of then in power military dictator and “President” General Inzamam.  Most PPP supporters beleived in it and held deep resentment against Army. Adding to this mistrust was the fact that PPP was Sindhi dominated while Punjabis formed the bulk of Pakistani army.   Most of the issues troubling Naqvi originated from this bitterness among two groups.
Major one was growing closeness of PML(N), a Punjabi dominated party led
by former PM Wasim Akhtar  with powerful elements in army and it's shady intelligence agency ISI. Both resented PPP and it's hold on civilian government and had been working behind the scenes patiently to weaken what they saw as disproportionate influence of  Sindhis in nation's political arena . PML(N) and army together had launched a vicious campaign against PPP by planting stories about ill-gotten wealth and debauchery of families of Zaradari and his PM Yaqub Raza in media and targeted killings of PPP cadre thinly disguised as terrorist attacks.

  Brains behind this sustained campaign against Sindhi PPP was General Abdul Asgar. He was an ambitious and well-connected man who thought nothing of using people or ideologies for his personal gains. Right from the time he joined army, he had cultivated image of a pious muslim with hatred for anything western or what Pakistanis thought of as anti-Pakistan.  But nobody, except him knew real General Asgar and his ambitions.
He quickly rose through ranks to  command a senior post in Pakistani Strategic Missile Group (SMG). He was a casualty of  Musharraf's half-hearted attempts of  purging the military of radical Islamic elements after 9/11 and was transferred to a army unit in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir bordering China and India.  After Musharraf's exit, he was promoted to rank of a General and given the command of army's garrison in Islamabad and then in Karachi.

   Being a powerful  army guy in Pakistan brings many benefits, money and political influence not being least of them and General Asgar was quick to make the most of it. Very soon, he was considered to be army chief in waiting as soon as General Beg stepped down. But Beg had other plans.

 Even though he considered General Asgar favourably, he had no intention of giving up post of army chief anytime soon. During the last 18 months he had started to appease his paymasters in US with a fervour by providing vital intelligence against major anti-US militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Using his help, NATO forces had captured or killed a numerous most wanted terrorists in a short period. Although it increased his influence within US and correspondingly Pakistan, number of enemies among Islamist militants as well as sympathetic elements in defence forces and civilian population increased exponentially. Like General Prevez  Musharraf before him, he too alleged numerous conspiracies and attempts of assassination directed against him to gain sympathy.

    Using his influence amongst US officials he managed to get extension to his already prolonged tenure, the latest one being in April 2011 that extended his virtual rule on Pakistan by another 3 years. In this, he had no small help from US which was fully backing him up as their new "ally" in Pakistan .

 It didn't go down with many people in Pakistan, least of all with General Asgar, who saw his chances of gaining absolute power in Pakistan rapidly diminishing. It was at this time, that general Asgar started looking for allies in political arena of Pakistan and he zeroed in on  Wasim Akhtar. Akhtar, too despised Beg who was protege of his nemesis General Prevez Musharraf. Akhtar had never forgotten how Musharraf had launched Kargil misadventure, overthrown his civilian government and put him into exile, thereby striking a crippling blow on his political clout and career. Even though he had no trust in military,  he was only too glad to forge a secret alliance with General Asgar who promised him chairs of PM and President in exchange for an indefinite tenure on post of army chief for himself.

 Together, they had launched a vicious covert assault on PPP and the government it led. News stories were planted in local and international media exposing ill-gotten wealth, bribery and sex scandals of various ministers and army personnel loyal to Beg who were holding key positions   in the regime. Many junior leaders and cadre of PPP and it's allies were assassinated in violent attacks which were conveniently blamed  on Indian and Israeli intelligence agencies. 

With just months to go into elections, effect of this onslaught on government and Beg's hold on it was  tremendous. Nobody ever expected elections to be free and fair in Pakistan, but revelations of brazen corruption and  immorality among ruling politicians and Beg faction of army caused the popularity of PPP and Beg plunge to an all time low.   Adding to their woes were the ever increasing friction between cadre of PPP and Punjabi parties who clashed almost daily armed with automatic weapons and explosives. Punjabis having the support of General Asgar invariable had the upper hand in most of these battles. Combined with sectarian Shia-Sunni violence and frequent attacks by Talibani organisations, situation in Pakistan was truly dire
 

It was at this time when Mushtaq Naqvi was hurriedly called back from London to give a much needed boost to election campaign being led by his father.  Mushtaq's publicity handlers were  was wise enough to  cultivate his image as a suave well educated secular Muslim who cared more about Pakistan than holding any position of power. It was particularly essential after pictures of him indulging in  drinking and cavorting with women in London were published on Internet. That was waved away as inevitable discretion of youth and Mushtaq Naqvi in 2012 was a far cry from the drunk womaniser that he was alleged to be. 

  Sitting in his bulletproof SUV along with his father as it raced to the election rally spot, he listened intently as his father gave him last minute instructions on how to conduct himself on stage in front of thousands of supporters. As the convoy reached the rally spot, it was surrounded by thousands of eager supporters intent on catching a glimpse  of their young fresh leader. Death of his mother in similar conditions was still fresh in the minds of security detail who had forbidden any member of Naqvi family to even peek outside the heavily tinted bulletproof windows of their vehicles.  Their SUV stopped at the stairs of 12 feet high temporary stage and both father and son quickly alighted the stairs surrounded by dozens of well trained and heavily armed commandos.  

             PPP speaker Mahroof Raza who was already on stage greeted the father son duo warmly and escorted them to the chairs strategically placed so as to allow the crowd full glimpse of whoever was sitting there. After customary hand waving, sloganeering and introductory speech by Raza, Naqvi senior took control of the mike to address the rally. He wanted this rally to be the launchpad for his son's future political career and presented Mushtaq as the next great hope for Pakistan. After waxing eloquent for what seemed like an eternity he invited his son to make his first ever speech in Pakistan. Flanked by his body-guards, Mushtaq got up from the chair and started walking towards the dais.

  His short journey was rudely interrupted by sounds of gun shots fired just 70-80 meters from the stage. Panic spread quickly among the massive crowd and  the stadium was full of terrified people rushing towards the nearest exit. Saqlain and Mushtaq both were quickly surrounded by their body guards who started escorting them to their convoy. At this time,  whole stadium shook with a massive explosion that blew up most of the stage and put the rest on fire.
  Last thing that senior Naqvi saw before losing consciousness was the sight of his son's body being tossed up high up in air like a broken rag doll.
 

Chapter 2

12:15 Hours
26 Oct 2012
Secret army safehouse
Karachi, Pakistan


Lt. Zia knocked nervously on the closed door and waited for permission to enter. He had strict instructions to leave the occupants of the room in complete privacy, but owing to urgency of situation he felt he had no other option other than to comply with what the caller on phone asked for. Door was unlocked by General Asgar who inquired in a level voice the nature of business. Lt. Zia just told him name of the caller and handed over the phone. General Asgar put the phone to his ear and ambled up to the sofa on which he was sitting earlier.
His ear was blasted by the frantic voice of Wasim Akhtar who seemed to be scared out of his wits.
“What the hell just happened General ? Bombing of Naqvi's rally !! I tell you General, we are all screwed.”

General Asgar asked mildly, “What are you talking about Wasim ? “

“PPP rally in National stadium was bombed ! Switch on the TV for god sake. Naqvi is seriously injured and his son blown to pieces. Where are you hiding General ? Why the hell you did this ? Didn't you think of the consequences ?” Wasim shrieked.

Voice of General Asgar suddenly took on a hard edge, “What makes you think that I'm behind this attack, Wasim ? It's a very serious allegation that you are making “

Surprised by the change in tone of General's voice Akhtar could only manage to stammer “But, but... what, err who could have done this ? “

“How am I supposed to know this ? Do I look like an oracle ? Keep watching TV for any updates”

“But everybody will accuse me only. PPP workers are already baying for our blood. What the hell am I supposed to do now ?“ Akhtar's whining voice made General Asgar wince. Maintaining his composure, he replied in a cool voice, “Whoever did this will soon take responsibility. Your name will not be dragged in to this. “

“But what about those crazy Sindhis ? They've already made up their minds that I'm behind this ! Their leaders have already started mobilising supporters to avenge this bombing. “

“I believe that your men are well trained and suitably armed to defend themselves against any such stupid attacks. You yourself are guarded well enough” General Asgar smiled to himself.

“But you are missing the consequences. Even though Mushtaq was not a candidate, elections can be postponed indefinitely due to his death. All the efforts that we had put in too discredit Naqvi and Gilani will be neutralised by the sympathy wave. “

“You don't need to worry about that either. You have my support and only you'll win these elections. When was the last time free and fair elections were held in Pakistan anyway? “ General Asgar laughed loudly at his own joke.

“Are you really sure about this General ? Remember our fortunes are tied to each other. If I go down you go down too”

“ I realise that very well Mian Wasim. Both of us will certainly get what we both need. Just relax and stop worrying about it. I want you to do one thing for your own sake. Organise a press conference as soon as possible and announce your shock and sorrow at this tremendous loss to nation. Just don't overdo the sympathy bit and go out publicly. Wait for someone to take responsibility for the attack. Do you understand me ?”

Wasim Akhtar replied like an obedient school boy to his teacher, “ Yes General. I understand perfectly well.”

General Asgar put down the phone and smiled at the only other occupant of the room, General Mao Hu of People Liberation Army, China. “ You might have guessed it by now, it was future PM of Pakistan asking his trusty general for advice in face of what he thinks is a colossal crisis”

General Hu replied, “Of course. It was only logical that he did. I assume that you were able to calm him down. Everything going according to plans ?”

“As always. Would you mind if I turn up the volume on TV ? I think that they are broadcasting what I've been waiting for.”

They both turned their attention to TV screen on which the news channel was playing voice recording of a man who claimed to be member of a new Paksitani Islamic organisation, Al Mujahideen committed to cleanse Muslim nations of corruption and immorality. He claimed full responsibility of the attack on PPP rally and blamed Naqvis of bringing shame to whole Islamic world by their corrupt ways and allegiance to kafir USA. Within minutes of broadcast of this recording, another channel played a recording made by Haqqani's eldest son who claimed that he had personally planned this attack to avenge the death of his father due to intelligence provided by Paki govt. Soon, all the channels were full of self-styled experts debating and analysing this new development and “who-really-dunnit” began in earnest.

General Asgar turned down the volume and remarked, “ These TV channels remind me of a circus that I once visited as a child. . Shall we resume discussing our plans ? “

Chapter 3

8:00 Hours
26 oct 2012
CIA Headquarters
Langey, USA

Bill Cosby, CIA's South Asia specialist was still going over his notes when a disheveled CIA chief Richard Cobain walked in to the meeting room. He slumped into a chair closest to the door and just lay their with his eyes closed. After a while he opened his eyes and said in a tired voice, " What are we dealing with here ? Any idea who did this ?"

" 4 different groups, 2 each based in Pakistan and Afghanistan have claimed responsibility for the attack till now. To soon to confirm anything" Cosby replied

"I don't care whats being shown on TV. Who really did it ?"

"There are so many players in this game that it's almost impossible to point out the culprit without any good piece of evidence."

Richard replied in exasperated tone of voice, " For Christ's sake, I have to brief the president within 2 hours over this incident. What am I supposed to tell him ? Do you want me to report that even after spending billions of dollars on gizmos, spooks and buying loyalties, we don't have any information on who very nearly killed the president of our nuclear armed ally ? "

Sergey Page, a senior analyst replied tentatively, "Actually we do have something that might prove interesting, but we are still missing some pieces of the puzzle. We have evidence of some kind of alliance between PML(N) led by Wasim Akhtar , General Asgar and the Chinese. A large number of PML(N) men have recently received weapons and training from people who we believe work for Pakistani army. We are not exactly sure how this bombing incident will help Wasim Akhtar, but weakening of PPP can pave the way for General Asgar to become even more powerful. But, the thing that's really worrying me is involvement of Chinese "

"What do you mean? "

" Chinese have been secretly propping up General Asgar as their man in Pakistan for quite some time now. After Beg started cooperating with us against Taliban and Al Qaida terrorists, only way he could survive in Pakistan was with our help. Also, our attacks on their strongholds in Af-Pak region forced many terrorists to move to safer places, most prominent being muslim majority Chinese province Xinjiang. Recent resurgence of "civil unrest" in Xinjiang is indirectly due to our improved intelligence and tactics in Af-Pak".
Page paused for breath and then continued, " For Chinese, somebody they can control will be a much better asset than the current regime headed by Beg. He was supposed to step down from post of army chief last year and hand over the reigns to Asgar, but he pulled a fast one by getting himself a 3 years extension. Now, Asgar has no chance of becoming army chief unless something drastic happens. "

"Drastic like assassination of Naqvis?" Cobain half-inquired under his breath.

Page replied, "Possibly yes. General Asgar is a very resourceful and ambitious man. We suspect that he stuck a deal with Chinese according to which he'll use their influence to gain power in exchange for crackdown on supporters of Uighur separatists in Af-Pak and possibly needling India. His dependence on Chinese must have increased even more after Beg's newest extension.
We had no choice except to help Beg prolong his tenure. We really need his cooperation in our war against terror and only man senior enough to take his place, Asgar was on our list of suspected terrorist sympathisers in Pakistani defence forces that we handed over to Musharraf after 9/11. His links with Chinese and radical Islamists make him very unreliable and detrimental to our interests in the region. In fact, we have proof of his involvement with some militant Islamist groups that we are fighting. Some telephone intercepts suggest that these groups have been attacking PPP cadre on his instructions. "

" Do you have any concrete evidence to prove involvement of Asgar and Chinese in this ?" Richard asked sharply.

Page was unruffled, " Not yet sir. We do have bits and pieces of evidence that points to some kind of alliance between Asgar, Wasim and Chinese. But nothing that'll prove their involvement with this bombing."

"Great ! Less than 90 minutes before my conference with President, Joint Chief of staff and other biggies start and I have nothing to put on table except wild theories." A frustrated Richards addressed to no one in particular. " Well, gentlemen. . From now on, presentation of some solid evidence to back up any theory will be highly appreciated. Thanks for your time."

Chapter 4

19:00 Hours
26 Oct 2012
PM House
New Delhi, India





Meeting between Indian PM, all Chiefs of Army, Navy, Air Force, NSA, and defence minister was already in progress when Home Minister rushed in to the building closely followed by his aide who was stopped at the door by the security guard.  "Sorry sir, but we can't allow your companion in. He'll have to wait outside in the lobby till the meeting is over. Orders from above"

HM paused for a moment to argue with the guard but then shrugged and went in himself alone to the secure conference room where NSA chief, Angad  was debriefing PM and other participants on current situation in Pakistan. Everybody paused for a moment when HM entered. Indian PM signaled him to take seat on the nearest available empty chair and said, “Got held up somewhere Purohit ji? Angad had just started explaining to us the current situation in Pakistan. I believe that you haven't missed anything that you already didn't know." and motioned NSA chief to continue.

  "As I was saying, Pakistani politics is currently divided in to numerous camps. But the biggest ones that we need to monitor are the Naqvi-Beg and Asgar-Akhtar alliances. They are being backed up by USA and China respectively. Also there are some minor political groups like MQM, PML (Q), and ANP etc. But their role and influence is comparatively minor.  In addition to these mainstream parties, there are numerous jihadi tanzeems (organisations) that we monitor. Some are pro-government, others anti and still many others declare their allegiances on case by case basis. Without any major exceptions, they all sympathise or cooperate with Taliban, Al Qaida and are one of the major support bases for these terrorist organisations.

Beg's renewed cooperation with US in war against terrorism has been a mixed bag for them. Even though, they've suffered lost many senior leaders by means of arrests and even killings, their wide support base and help from closet jihadis in Pak establishment, especially Army ensures that their work continues unhindered. Our intelligence sources suggest that General Asgar has close links with many of these organisations and employs their cadre for his dirty work.

Apart from this, there are two other factors that we can't afford to miss. First one is Balochistan and second is Pak Occupied Kashmir. Both regions are in serious turmoil directly due to Chinese.

  Of the two, it's POK that concerns us the most as its Indian territory illegally occupied by Pakistan and now being swamped with thousands of Chinese soldiers and workers. In early 2010, Pakistan allowed China to start building a massive network of roads, railway tracks and pipelines through the region connecting the two countries. Chinese hope to safe-guard their energy routes by using this line as it gives them a direct land-route to the Arabian Sea and Gwadar port. This way, they can avoid the longer and potentially less reliable route through Straits of Malacca. They have already started negotiations with Iran, Saudi Arab and some African countries to route their shipments, oil and gas through this port. Pakistanis also hope to benefit from this and have extended their full cooperation. In fact we have intelligence which proves that Chinese have been using at least 2 army and 1 air strip in POK to move in their supplies and as storage dumps.
Satellite pictures show construction of at least 4 permanent colonies where no civilian Pakistani is allowed. Each one of these colonies has one or more heli-pads and heavily armed guards on 24x7 watch. 2 of these colonies and military bases are less than 80 km from Line Of Control and can be used to launch a surprise attack against us within a hour's notice.

Not only that, there are dozens of terrorist training camps in the vicinity, some of them in direct control of ISI and Paki army. It's a very dangerous situation for us. Chinese presence in this area means that if we decide to take any action against these terrorist camps in nearby future, Chinese can get in the way. We have reports from multiple sources that Pakistanis have been planning a big terrorist attack in India very soon and I have a gut feeling that Chinese presence in this area will definitely come into play some way or the other.


   But the locals of that area are playing spoil-sport with Paki-Chinese plans. They allege that Chinese activities have destroyed their farms, polluted rivers and uprooted 100s of villages. 3 out of 4 colonies are on the land belonging to the locals and they allege that they were paid insufficient compensation and in many cases, none at all. There have been many reports of protests being held by the affected villagers against the Chinese but Pakistani government has been able to hush it up.

Chinese have responded by kidnapping, torturing and even killing some of the more troublesome protesters. Right now, the region is witnessing serious unrest and almost daily confrontations between the locals and Chinese. High handedness of Chinese in dealing with protesters is starting to look like Soviet actions in Afghanistan. Pakistanis have been turning a blind eye to this, as the affected areas are mostly inhabited by ethnic Shias.


As for Balochistan, people are faring no better there either. By and large, Balochis are moderate muslims but some groups do have links with terrorist groups in Afghanistan. Balochis grievances are that the Punjabi and Sindhi dominated army and government are interested in exploiting natural resources of the region all the while treating them as 3rd rate citizens.
Construction of Gwadar port without any involvement or economic benefit to the locals is the latest and just one of the very long list of grievances that they hold against Pakistani government.Balochis have been fighting a bloody war against Pakistani establishment for a long time. Pakistani army has used everything in it's arsenal ranging from heavy artillery, air strikes and covert missions to put down the rebellion, but hardy Balochis have kept the resistance alive. But the entry of Chinese in to the theater has changed the situation for worse.

As I explained earlier, Gwadar port is supposed to be an important point in the new energy route for Chinese and they've invested billions of dollars in it. Common sense dictates that construction of such a massive port, transport routes, pipeline will result in large scale employment of locals and generation of goodwill for the investors. But Chinese kind of screwed up on this one too by employing Chinese workers and engineers for construction as well as daily operations of the port. Instead of helping locals by creation of employment opportunities, Chinese actions, in the area have in fact caused same repercussions as in PoK.

Skirmishes between the Chinese and Balochis have already started in earnest. One of the latest cause of conflict is the oil-gas pipeline that Chinese are constructing from Gwadar to China through POK. Balochis forced the work on pipeline to be halted when they came to know that it'll pass through the pastures and native village of leader of one of the most powerful nationalist Baloch leaders, Gaffar Khan of Baloch Nationalist Liberation Front. Negotiations between Chinese and Khan broke down over the compensation being offered by Chinese. Pakistanis intervened in their usual high-handed manner by arresting another senior leader and torturing him in custody.

Enraged Balochis responded by ambushing the army convoys passing through the area and destroying any Chinese construction vehicle and material they could lay their hands upon. Unfortunately, situation was exacerbated when Chinese alleged that two of their unarmed workers died in the attack. A joint Pakistani and Chinese assault force then attacked 3 villages killing atleast 57 people, 21 of them women and destroying numerous houses. Next day, son and pregnant daughter-in-law of Khan went missing while on road to her parent's house. Their badly burned bodies were found 2 days later around 2 km off the road. Nobody took responsibility, but that incident closed the lid on any possible reconciliation effort.

Since then, a savage fight has been going on between Balochis and Paki-Chinese army with the latter using helicopter gunships and heavy artillery to raze down whole villages. Balochis have suffered high causalities, but they've managed to halt all construction work and supply lines to the Gwadar port through most of the area.

This conflict has forced Chinese to look for an alternate route that first follows the coastal highway connecting Gwadar to Karachi, then roughly follow either Indus or General Trunk Highway upto Islamabad and from there to occupied Kashmir. But this alternate route is much closer to the Indo-Pak border and within our easy striking distance. Further, they have already invested billions in mapping and construction of the route through Balochistan. Such drastic change of plans at this time will not only increase the operational cost of the project but also cause unacceptable delay.

For the moment, they are trying their level best to find a way out in Balochistan, but I doubt if Balochis will oblige. They know that even if they manage to quell the rebellion, nothing short of a genoicde and complete ethnic cleansing will ensure safety of their route from sabotage in future.
All these facts are explained in detail with maps in the reports that I've placed in frotn of you. You're welcome to ask any questions.”

 HM was first, “ With billions of dollars that they have at their disposal, what stops the Chinese from just buying off the locals in Balochistan and POK and prevent all this bloodshed and delay ? “

“ If Chinese have billions of dollars, US can print trillions even at the cost of damage to it's economy that such an action might bring. In case of POK, Chinese have displaced people from dozens of mountainous villages where land suitable for farming and rearing cattle is at a premium and constructed their colonies and roads. The people who have lost their lands have nowhere to go and make a living outside POK as they don't have full rights as other Pakistanis. Even those who haven't lost their lands directly have suffered due to pollution, land-slides, flooding among other side-effects brought upon by indiscriminate Chinese activity in a fragile eco-system.

As for Balochistan, things could've been much better if Pakistani army officers were kept out of the compensation process. Balochis alleged that army siphoned off a lions share of the money that was given by the Chinese and they were left with nothing. When Chinese attempted to talk directly, Pakis brought in their H & D (Honour and Dignity) issue in to play and also screwed up everything by picking up needless fights. Same thing happened in POK too.”

PM asked the next question, “ Is Chinese presence in Balochistan and POK in anyway related to attack on PPP rally? “

“I only have a theory sir.” Anagad replied hesitatingly.

“Let us hear it.”

“ Pakistanis have been going slow on Gwadar port route due to US pressure on Beg and the civilian government.US has been sponsoring psy-ops for quite some time against the project by questioning whether anybody except the army and it's stooges will gain anything out of this, covertly of course. Beg regime was already under enormous domestic and international pressure due to corruption charges and this whisper campaign forced him to tow the US line. Work on route in Balochistan was halted many times citing environment clearances, land ownership issues and so on much to the annoyance of Chinese.

Although it seems kind of far fetched, one of the quickest ways to get the work completed as soon as possible is to have their own puppet in control instead of a US controlled one. For Chinese, there is nobody better than General Asgar for this job. They've been propping him up for quite some time now as a counter to US influence. They planned to use him to push their agenda after Beg stepped down, but Beg's 3 year extension put a spanner to their plans. Chinese wouldn't let their investment go down the drain and will do anything within their ability to retain their influence and activate that route. They don't see it as an option but a vital necessity. They'll do anything to weaken Beg and install their own man. This near fatal attack on Naqvi is a big blow to the public moral and image of army. Something that General Asgar and Chinese really want.”

“Why don't Chinese try buying off Beg instead of playing such dangerous games? “ Home minister inquired.

“ Well, I don't think that they didn't try that. We know for a fact that 2 senior PLA generals visited Beg many times over that last 2 years, ostensibly for the same purpose you mentioned and also to pressurise him to stop training and infiltration of ethnic Uighur militants into XinJiang. But Beg knows too well that he and PPP government can't last a day without US support.
As for Uighur militant issue is concerned, he is powerless to oblige China without messing up US plans. It's not like reign of Musharraf when Pakis were able to use terrorists for their own means even when pretending to fight them in exchange of money and military aid. Americans have wisened up to the duplicity and perfidy of Pakis and have kept everything on a tight leash. They want to get out of Af-Pak as soon as possible and allowing Chinese controlled Asgar to rule Pakistan will make a graceful exit impossible for them.”

“So it seems like US and China are fighting a proxy war , each one using Pakistanis as pawns. “, PM said with a wry smile.
“ But not without serious consequences for us.” Defence minister interjected. “A US-China battle ground in our nuclear armed neighbour is a nightmare. But I don't think any one of the two will be foolish enough to destabilise the country, it being in tatters as it already is.”

“ Agreed. I don't think that either US or China will enter into direct conflict with each other. But their cat-and mouse games are sure to cause serious unrest. It could even result in a civil war. I don't
want to even think about that.” DM said with a shudder.

PM asked Angad, “ Why Asgar has not tried to initiate a coup against Beg till now ? Or Beg tried to defang Asgar ?“

“ It sure seems like a quick fix, but both are serving army men and any such move by either of the two will surely cause division within army ranks and a very likely civil war. With nukes in picture, nobody knows the consequences. Even without nukes, it's a lose-lose condition for both, unless something unexpected happens, “ Angad replied

“Unexpected like ?”

Angad paused for a moment before speaking, “ Like Beg willingly hands over the reigns to Asgar in exchange for a guaranteed safe exit and large sum of money. Or Asgar dies, in that case there is nobody senior enough in Paki army hierarchy that Chinese control to challenge Beg. But Asgar has good contacts with many Islamist terrorist organisations and most worryingly with army wing in charge of the nukes from his pre-9/11 days.

Beg can also postpone the elections , impose martial law and cut the wings of Asgar by arrest or other means. On the other hand, if Beg dies, power is still in hands of civilian government and they can demote or dismiss Asgar. But I seriously doubt that Asgar and his Chinese allies will let it happen.”

“So, what does it mean for us ?”

“In case of a civil war, anything from terrorist strikes to a full blown war to deflect the attention. Threat of a nuclear attack blamed a rogue commander or terrorists is very likely. Chinese will surely
try to take advantage of the situation. “

“ A stable Pakistan is in our interests after all !” DM remarked bitterly.

“I dare say it's not. If we play our cards right, we can use the instability in Pakistan to cut down China to it's size as well as rid ourselves of the shackles of terrorism and nuclear blackmail that
these two threaten us with.” Angad responded eagerly to a approving nod from the army chief, General Zoravar Singh.

“ Interesting”. DM replied, “What are our options ? ”

“ I believe our service chiefs already have a plan that they can explain much better than me “

PM turned to the 3 chiefs who so far had been listening to every word intently and spoke, “ Lets hear it gentlemen.”

All 3 chiefs shared glances with each other and nodded a silent agreement . General Zoravar Singh leaned forward on his chair and began explaining their battle plans to a fully attentive audience.

Really well wrriten and crisp... jamwal ji a very good start...

... and this is just your 1st attempt?!! I've been a regular reader of the scenario threads and from what I read above, you have all the makings of another star writer! Keep it up Jamwal!

Thanks for the kind words

Chapter 5

10:00 Hours
27 Oct 2012
Central Market
Karachi, Pakistan




Mohammed Shafiq was in a bad mood when he stopped his car in front of his 25 years old eatery in Central Market, one of the busiest in Karachi. He came to the city when he was barely 13 years old after running away from his home in Multan. He did various jobs for 11 years and somehow scraped up enough money to start his own shop in Central Market. Over the years he managed to establish a reputation of serving good food at affordable prices. Most of his customers were local shopkeepers and their employees who bought their breakfast and lunch from him daily.


His daily commute of 20 minutes to his shop today took him 3 hours due to almost curfew like security measures in place. Although Pakistanis were used to terrorist attacks and subsequent tightening up of the security that invariably followed such attacks, measures adopted today were extreme by even Paki standards. Every occupant of every vehicle was told to disembark and then body-searched in addition to metal-detector and dog sniffer checks
This delay had cost him earnings he made every morning that amounted to almost half of his daily income everyday. He barked at Shahid, 18 years old helper who was dozing in front of the shop , to get the keys and open the shutters while he searched for a place to park his car. Delay of 3 hours meant that most of the already scarce parking spaces were already full and he had to park his car at a considerable distance from his usual place near the shop. Cursing everybody in general for his troubles he took out a cigarette and started walking towards his shop. His unpleasant mood was slightly softened at the sight of a few regulars starting to assemble in anticipation of an early lunch or a late breakfast.

Shafiq's attention was diverted by sound of a pickup truck being rashly driven that passed him by with only inches to spare. He swore loudly cursing the driver and his relatives to hell and worse. His rant was suddenly interrupted by the sight of that truck suddenly changing it's direction towards the small crowd in front of his shop. Before his horrified eyes the truck ran over 3 people and stopped after hitting the wall of his shop. He shouted at the people around for help and starting running towards the scene of accident. He was still 20 meters away when the truck exploded with a loud bang and caught fire. Shafiq along with many other people was thrown back many meters by the force of the blast wounded grievously. Fire from the truck soon reached the LPG cylinders in the eatery which exploded further spreading the fire.
Eight fire brigade trucks took 4 hours to extinguish the blaze which turned more than half of the Karachi's most crowded markets into ashes, killed 37 people and wounded many more.

Chapter 6


19:00 Hours
27 Oct 2012
PM House
New Delhi, India



Six big blasts in four cities within a span of 4 hours !” Indian PM was incredulous, ”What the hell is happening in Pakistan ?“

“Bomb blasts are least of their worries right now. More Pakistani civilians have died in riots that broke out after the blasts than the blasts themselves. More are dying even as we speak. “ Angad replied.

“Any idea who did this? Were all blasts planned by a single group” ? PM asked even though he knew the answer he'd get.

Angad shrugged, “ We are still analysing our intelligence reports. There are numerous suspects, but whoever did this, executed it really well. Unlike the attack on Paki President, no one has taken the responsibility for these attacks yet. “

“ I just hope that these guys have enough sense not to blame us for this.” DM remarked warily.

“ That's a feeling we both share.” PM murmured and lapsed into a moody silence.

“We've already issued an official statement condemning the bombings. But I have serious doubts whether it'll make any difference to these idiots. They'll blame everybody except themselves for all their troubles.” DM continued. “I'd like to put our forces on border on heightened state of alert, but I 'm sure that it'll be taken as a sign of aggression.”

“Only border ? I'd like to put all our security agencies on high alert. I'm willing to bet you anything that some Islamist nuts have already started planning terrorist strikes against us”. HM spoke to the nodding agreement of Angad.

“We can put state police and other internal security organisations on high alert without any problem but doing it on the international border is a different matter. Doing so will not only increase the tensions but also bring international pressure on us. Pakis have always exploited anti-Hindu, anti-India cards to divert attention from real issues since long and any such action on our part will surely provide them with an excuse to cause some mischief.”

“ Would you rather have similar terrorist attacks in our cities than take necessary actions to avoid them lest in offends Pakis ? ” HM asked testily.

“Our forces in J&K are always on high alert and BSF is guarding rest of IB in western sector fairly well. In current situation, maximum we can do is to increase size and frequency of patrols without making it public. Anything beyond this will be seen as unprovoked aggression on our part. Mobilisation of army in current situation is out of question. ” DM retorted.

This exchange was broken by buzzing of the intercom. Angad put the phone to his ear and without saying a word turned on the large LCD TV in room. All eyes in the room were turned to the news channel on which serving Pakistani Army Chief General Beg was reading his speech. He spoke of the recent bombings and subsequent riots and their effect on already precarious security situation in Pakistan. He went on to announce imposition of martial law, postponing of election pending better security conditions and his appointment as the country's military ruler until such conditions are achieved. War against Islamic terrorism was to continue without any change as per the requirements of his allies. He finished the speech asking for help from the international community in Pakistan's hour of need.

“Well, that changes something I guess. At least he had the fig leaf of a civilian regime before this. ” PM was first to break the silence.

“He didn't mention anything about mobilisation of army or reshuffling of top posts. I can't find anything in his speech that'll specifically change anything for us in near future.” DM observed.

“What about our peace talks ? We can't be seen negotiating for peace with a military dictator. “ PM asked in a worried voice.

DM rolled his eyes and was about to say something when he was interrupted by HM, “ You are still serious about that “peace talk” thing ?

PM replied in a surprised fashion, “ Why not ? Do we have a choice ?”

“ We can worry about “peace talks” later. Right now, we have a situation at hand that needs our immediate attention.” HM responded. “What do you think of it Angad ? “

“ One of many things that's worrying me is reaction of General Asgar. I don't think he'll take it easily. Beg didn't mention anything about him and we don't know what he is going to do. Unless Beg has offered him something substantial, he will not take it lying down. Specially when he has backing of Chinese. “

“What's the worse that could come of it ?”

“ An attempted coup followed by a bloody civil war is one thing that comes to the mind. ” DM replied glumly.

“ You mean Asgar trying to overthrow Beg ? But this is madness !” PM exclaimed.

“Well, we discussed something like that in our last meeting.”

DM looked towards HM before replying “ Seems like we'll have to put our forces on maximum alert now. No point in taking chances when Chinese and Pakis are involved. “

“What is your opinion Angad ? “ PM looked towards NSA chief hopefully.

“ I agree with Defence Minister. Not only Army, even Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard should be put on high alert . It'd be foolish to just guard IB after Mumbai attack.”

“ Very well then. Do whatever is necessary, but take every precaution to keep things under control. I don't want a possible nuclear war due to any misunderstanding. ”

DM allowed himself a smile, “ Don't worry, sir. We'll issue a press statement and send a dossier to assure everybody of our benign intentions.”

superb beginning..... waiting for more...

Chapter 7

19:30 Hours
27 Oct 2012
Karachi Garrison
Pakistan



General Asgar was pacing his office waiting impatiently for his telephone to ring. General Beg's reaction to the bombings and riots had taken him completely by surprise. As soon as he came to know of it he tried contacting General Hu but was told by his aide that Hu was in a meeting with senior leaders of the Party and could not be excused. Asgar could do nothing but wait for Hu to contact him and that made him mad.
Presently the phone rang and Asgar rushed towards the table to pick it up. Smooth voice of General Hu came in on the line, “ Good evening General. I understand that there've been some unexpected events ?”

“Why else would I feel the need to contact you General Hu, if everything was alright ?” Asgar asked angiriy.

Hu ignored the jab and continued in the same voice, “ Well, Beg's action were not really unexpected after what happened to Naqvis and the unfortunate blasts and riots in your country today. ”.

“Nothing is really unexpected once it has happened. Now what am I supposed to do ? I don't even know who is behind these blasts.“

“If you leave out Islamic terrorists, who do you think can possibly benefit from this ? “

“ Beg himself ! But is it really possible ? Serving Army chief orchestrating bombings and riots to get the chair !“

Hu replied, “ We don't know if he did it or not. But think of the consequences if somehow it's proved as the truth.”

“ Even if he really did this and we manage to prove it as such, it will not amount to anything. Americans will not withdraw their support and Beg will continue his rule” Asgar lamented.

“ Not if you snatch it from him”.

Asgar nearly jumped out of his chair, “ A coup ! That too against an serving Amy general! Are you in your senses ? Do you really think that Americans will let their poodle go down so easily ?“

Hu replied in a soothing voice, “ I know very well what I'm talking about General. If Americans are backing Beg, you have all the might and goodwill of Chinese republic behind you. You realise that China is an all weather ally of Pakistan unlike US , even your public knows this truth.”

“What will you gain from this ? “

“ Come on General ! We both have common goals and interests that we've discussed so many times. It's just that we need to find a somewhat different way to get you at the top post . ”

“It'll not be so easy General Hu, as you might be thinking. There are a million things that could go wrong. General Beg is no fool. I'm sure that he must have planned for any such attempted coups. Grabbing power from him could turn in to a bloody and long affair. And whats going to stop Americans from coming to his aid ?”

Hu replied in a reproaching voice, “ You seem to forget your Chinese allies too easily, General. Whatever you need of us, you just need to ask.”

“I'm worried about American intervention because of the nukes. They'll do anything to stop me from gaining their control. You know the history. “

“You need not worry about that General. Didn't I just say that you just have to ask.”

“What ? Are you a djinn (genie) or something ? Genei Hu ?” Asgar laughed nervously.

“ May be.” Hu replied mysteriously. “ You are really worried about being nuke nude, aren't you ? “

“Of course yes.”

“In that case, how about we supplying you a minimum of six nuclear missiles within two days of your request ? Painted in your Pakistani colours, all ready to parade around or even launch at your enemies as you see fit . Beg needs approval from his American masters even to see the Paki nuke assets. But you'll have your own, completely independent ready to launch nuclear tipped missiles. Even if Americans disable all the nukes and missiles that your country already has, you still have something to scare your enemies. You'll get more weapons later according to your requirements.“

Asgar stammered, “ Yes..yes..That'll be really great. But what about the Indians ? How do we keep them from any mischief ?”

“ Indians wouldn't be able to interfere in anyway with our plans. If needed, we'll keep them occupied. You just have to act fast before anybody has the chance to react. ”

“I understand. You just take care of the nuke business and keep an eye on India . I can easily handle Beg myself. After I seize the power, nobody will have any option but to respect my authority. “ Asgar felt some of his old confidence returning.

“Very well then. I'll be seeing you in person real soon. Goodbye and good luck.”

Scenario is turning really fast... it has all taste of International Diplomacy, Intillegence and covert tactics...

Chapter 8

03:30 Hours
28 Oct 2012
Army HQ
Islamabad



Last few days had been really hectic for General Beg and his face showed it. He didn't had a moment of rest during last 2 days and his eyes were puffy and red from cigarette smoke and endless cups of tea consumed in that period. Right after his announcement of martial law on TV, he had called a meeting to discuss his future course of action with some of his trusted army and civilian officers. He had decided to keep most of the civilian bureaucratic setup unchanged for the moment to deflect some domestic pressure. All of the cabinet ministers and senior bureaucrats were to continue their work as usual. But a few changes in Army were inevitable and officers loyal to him reaped all the benefits in form of promotions and transfers to desirable places. For General Beg, it was a necessity to consolidate his position rather than a thing to reward his cronies. All the promoted and transferred officers were supposed to take up their commands within 24 hours but nobody was complaining. The officers who had to vacate their posts to make way for these new beneficiaries were sure to complain, but they didn't know of it yet.

After the meeting was over, he poured himself a stiff drink of scotch and called for his car to take him to his residence. Drive to his official bungalow took barely 10 minutes on a crowded day, it was going to be even shorter in these wee hours. He finished his drink leisurely and ambled out of the front door of the building towards his waiting bullet-proof car. A body guard who usually sat alongside his driver in front seat saluted smartly and opened the back door for him. Beg got in the back seat and closed his eyes as the driver slowly eased his car out of the driveway. 22 heavily armed commandos in 7 cars and SUVs surrounded the car and escorted him.

He felt mobile phone in his pocket vibrating signaling arrival of a new sms, but he ignored it for the moment. Nobody sent him any sms apart from his 12 years old son, but he should've been fast asleep now. He opened his eyes just minutes later when his driver stopped the car in front of the bomb proof gate of his bungalow . There was a lawn almost 70 meters across between the gate and bunalow with a narrow paved driveway joining the two. Even though all the lights in the lawn were on, those inside the house were off, except for a single bulb on the porch of front entrance.

He yawned and took his phone out to read the message. In the meantime gate was opened and first car of his convoy started entering the premises. He fumbled with the buttons to get to message inbox and smiled quizzically when he read his son name as the sender of message. “It's a little late for the little monkey to be up . Even the lights of whole house are off.”
He pressed the read button to open the message and his smiled disappeared at once. It was very short and read, “Bad men inside. Donot come Send help.”.
He immediately asked his driver to stop the car. All of his convoy behind him rolled to a stop. He snatched the walkie-talkie from the guard in front seat and hailed Major Sohail riding in leading SUV of convoy. “There's a situation Major Sohail. I think my family is being held hostage inside the house.”

“What ! I don't understand sir” Sohail exclaimed.

“ I just received this message from my son warning me that some bad men are inside and that I should send help.”

“ Asif is not of prankster type. Any idea who or what are we dealing with ?”

“No. He didn't tell. I'm trying to call him but his phone is switched off. We need to act fast. “

“Agreed. General. I'm calling for additional forces from the HQ. Meanwhile we'll check the house ourselves. You stay in your vehicle sir.”

“ Alright. Hurry but be very careful. “

“Roger that.”

Sohail immediately gathered his men and ordered 12 of them to take positions around the house and guard the general. All the windows of the house were barricaded by grills and there were only two entrances to the house, one each in front and back. guarded by 2 armed soldiers at all times. He split rest of his men in two 5 member teams, one for each entrance and decided to lead the one entering through the front door himself.

Running towards the door he prayed that Asif was indeed playing a prank on his father for once. If he was not, all his men were in serious trouble. The bad guys inside the house must already have him and rest of his team in their gun sights all this while. Feeling of butterflies in his stomach got worse as he neared the front entrance. Two guards who were supposed to be there at all times were missing. Just then Hav. Yaqub leading his 2nd search team informed him that there were no guards on back entrance either . For a moment he considered waiting for the backup to arrive. After all, it wouldn't take 10 minutes for them to reach here. He brushed away these thoughts from his mind . He was a professional soldier trained for all kinds of situations. Backup or no backup, it was his duty to complete the mission assigned to him.

About 10 metres from the door he thought that he saw somebody moving on the balcony on 1st floor. He was about to hail whoever was there, when he saw a flash and heard the whooshing sound typical of a RPG-69. Before he had the time to react, the rocket smashed in to the ground right in the middle of his team and exploded. 2 of his team members were blown to pieces while the rest were thrown off their feet by impact of the blast. As he struggled to get up and return fire, he heard sounds of heavy gunfire and grenade blasts coming from back of the house, right were his 2nd team was supposed to be. He shouted at the survivors of his team to follow him as he ran towards the cover behind the heavy flower pots around the entrance. This time his approach was interrupted by a hail of heavy AK 47 gunfire and remaining 2 commandos following him dropped dead. He himself was hit by a bullet in left leg, but managed to crawl up behind cover of a flower pot where he lay bleeding, unable to move or fire back at his attackers.

General Beg was watching this carnage from the back seat of his car. 10 of his men were down without even firing a single bullet. His car was hidden from the house by a row of trees and decorative bushes, but they'll provide no cover from the bullets once the intruders in the house start firing in his direction. He had no idea how many people were inside and could only guess their intentions. He only knew that they were very heavily armed and had his family hostage. Only thing he could do was to wait for backup from HQ to arrive. Till then, it'll be better if he got himself out of their weapons range.

He ordered rest of his men to get in cars and get out of the bungalow. His driver immediately started the engine and put the car into reverse gear. His convoy, now reduced to 4 cars started backing up towards the gate at a high speed.
It was time to pay back for their second mistake. They had completely forgotten about the guards on the gate. As the first car neared the gate, one of the 3 guards on duty fired a RPG on it killing 3 commandos who were in it. Other 2 started firing from their assault rifles. Survivors took cover and started firing back. Guard who had fired the RPG was killed as he was trying to reload it. Just then, intruders in the house directed their small arms fire towards the convoy.

Inside his bulletproof car Beg was frantically shouting into the walkie-talkie calling for backup. Major Aslam answered him, “I'm almost at the gates of your bungalow General, but how do we get in ? “

General Beg was furious, “What do you mean by that ?”

“Your gate and boundary wall are bullet proof and bomb proof, designed to keep armed intruders out.”

“For God's sake, just blow up the damned thing using C4 charges. I don't care if you use up whole stock. We are being shot to hell from 2 sides. 13 of my men are dead already. “

“Understood sir. My men are placing the charges now. “

Moments later, whole compound shook when the C4 charges planted by men of Major Aslam's team exploded. One of the guards near the gate was knocked down by the flying debris. Explosions also disoriented the third and last guard who was killed when he tried to run across the lawn towards the house.

errrr...jamwal! in the starting it seems u have substituted Gen. Musharraf by a loke named Inzamama and Zardari Saqlain Naqvi....then how the hell are they(Mushy and zardari) mentioned in the later story?

Jamwal ji - apart from High Alert and Force Mobilization what are other plans of General Zoravar Singh...

Nits
All in due time

Abinavjo

I started this story with real names and substituted with imaginary later, except for Musharraf. Used find-replace feature to make the corrections. Can you please point out instances where they are still not corrected. I found 1 in first post

ROFL!!!!!

That name just jumped into my mind Wrote it down and when rereading realised that it sounds familiar.
There are some references to things we talk about and people both living and dead. You found out the first. Congratulations.

Also Richard Cobain.... pretty famous last name

ohh and General Zoravar Singh

Pretty good. There is one more. Don't be evil.

Chater 8 (part II)

Remains of General Beg’s battered convoy sped out of the bungalow premises towards the reinforcements. Aslam at once came running towards Beg’s car and saluted when General himself opened the door and got out to take a look at the reinforcements.

“ Major, you arrived just in time to save our asses. These buggers killed half of my men in minutes and still have my family. They are no ordinary terrorists. “ Beg said somewhat shakily.

“ We can take out these rats easily sir. Just give us the order. “

“ Don’t be a fool. These men might be holding my family inside the house. I can’t risk their lives.“ Beg snapped. “Find out what their demands are. Only then I’ll decide on future course of action”

“Yes sir.”

Aslam was back 15 minutes later with the new that his men had discovered that telephone lines to the house were cut from the junction box in guard house. Within minutes, Beg received news that the lines were reattached. He himself dialed his landline number and waited anxiously as the telephone inside his house rang. He was nearly startled when someone inside the house picked up the phone. Beg started shouting at once, “Hello, hello!! Who is there ? Nussarat ? Is that you ? “

A heavy male voice replied mockingly, “Ah General Beg .You have a really long life. We were just about to call you.”

“Who the hell are you and what do you want ? Where is my family? They’d better be alright, otherwise you’ll regret that you were ever born.” Beg was beside himself.

Man on the other side laughed and said, “ Relax General. Your family is completely safe with us. We don’t wish any harm to them or even you. “

“Then why have you taken them hostage and why did you killed my bodyguards ?”

“ That was really unfortunate general. Believe me, if we had any choice, none of this bloodshed would have happened. Our plan was to meet you inside and persuade you to act according to our wishes in a reasonable and mutually beneficial way. Only if your boy was not so naughty so as to warn you, you’d know of our benign intentions firsthand.”

“Shut the hell up and tell me who are you and what do you want.” Beg bellowed into the phone.

“Well, who we are is not important General. But, what we want from you is infinitely more important. We just want you to give up one thing that you should’ve relinquished long ago “

“What is that? “

“Your post of Chief of Army Staff .“ The voice replied in a very casual manner. But the effect on General Beg was anything was casual. He lost whatever self-control he had on himself and started shouting even louder into the phone.

“ Who the hell you think you are ****** ? Do you think that you can just walk into my house and force me to handover everything that I worked for all my life just like that? I have lakhs of men at my command. I control the whole country, I control the Americans. You are nothing but a sneaking filthy rat. My men will enter the house and tear you apart within minutes.”

Man on other side of the line laughed even louder this time, “I’d not count on that if I were you. You need to understand it very clearly General that we are not ordinary terrorists. Our goal is to make sure that you give up your post with as little trouble as possible. We do have other means to persuade you apart from your family.”

“ What do you mean ? “

“ For starters, why don’t you try calling General Khalid ? Maybe that’ll make you see the light. I’ll call you after 10 minutes. “


General Beg was left holding the phone to his ear. He immediately broke out of his paralytic state and asked Major Aslam to contact General Khalid. Beg had promoted Khalid in order to cut down the power of General Asgar. Khalid was to assume command of Karachi garrison from Asgar who was transferred to a Nak Bundi near Afghanistan border. There his role would’ve been nothing more than that of a border guard. Orders to this effect were issued just a few hours ago in just concluded meeting.
Aslam was back within minutes looking shaken, “Sir, we have some very bad news. General Khalid convoy was attacked just outside his house just a few minutes ago. He is missing and 5 of his bodyguards are dead. Survivors claim that attackers who were in army uniforms bundled him into an army vehicle and sped away. “

Beg was speechless for a moment. “ Can anybody tell me what the hell is going on ? Are you telling me that some nuts not only took my family hostage and almost killed me inside my own house, but also managed to kidnap my most trustworthy subordinate? That too right inside my cantonment? “

Aslam shifted uneasily on his feet but kept quiet. He was rescued by ringing of Beg’s phone. It was from his house and he at once accepted the call and snarled into the phone, “ What have you done with General Khalid you ******** ? Who are you working for ? “

Man completely ignored his questions, “Do you realise what you are up against, General ? You, your family, your cronies, nobody is safe even in your own backyards. You might wear the stars, but it’s us who control everything in this country. For your own sake General, I’d strongly urge you to give up and do exactly as we say. “

“If I resign, who’ll take up my place ?”

“You need not worry about that General. After you retire, we’ll make sure that you lead a very comfortable retired life anywhere in the world.“

“It’s that ******** Asgar and you work under him? Isn’t it ? I always knew that he wanted my job, but never imagined that he’d stoop so low.”

“Right now, it’s not important who wants you job. Only thing important is the safety of you and your family. After all we can’t afford to keep them tied and bound for long.” Threat in the voice was too explicit to be ignored.


“Like hell I will. You’ve signed your own death warrant asshole. None of you will leave this building alive, even if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do.”

He disconnected the call and ordered Aslam to collect a crack team to storm the house. In the mayhem that followed his orders, his men suffered 28 causalities. They managed to save his son but not his wife . Her dead body was found in her bedroom, shot at point blank range. Total of 11 dead intruders were found, all in army uniforms but with fake identification papers. All were later identified as serving army person, 3 of them commissioned officers.

Chapter 9

20:00 Hours
27 October 2010
Point 711 Border Post
Uri, J&K


Major Ajay Singh was staring at the written order that he had just received from Army HQ. His orderly Subedar Gurang Thapa stood by. He could read the excitement in the Gorkha's twinkling eyes.
“Where are these journalists right now ?” he asked quietly.

“They are staying at the HQ . They'll be here by tomorrow morning by helicopter if the weather permits. “ Sub Thapa replied eagerly. Sub Thapa was one of the happiest men in the unit right now. Visit of journalists from a national TV channel meant he could be on national TV. His fiancee will be impressed.

“Is old Verma out of his mind ? How are we supposed to help these clowns document the situation at our borders ? We are seriously short of manpower as it is and now we have to play tour guide to these dorks from the TV channel ! “ Ajay muttered in exasperation to himself. Then to Sub Thapa, “Get me Col. Verma. He is not the kind of man given to such frivolities. “

Much to chagrin of Maj Ajay, Col Verma was unmoved by all his protests. TV channel had obtained permission from defence and home ministries for this visit. Defence minister had called Army HQ himself to ensure that full cooperation was extended to the journalists.
“It should be no big deal Ajay. Most of their work is already done in HQ itself. All they need now is to document daily lives of soldiers at the border . Just take them with you on a patrol. Show them the border posts and tell them about your daily lives on the posts on the mountains. You should be happy that you and your men are going to be on national TV. “

“ Being on TV is the last thing on my mind. Conditions are really volatile these days. We are observing a lot of activity on the Paki side. We can't risk ignorant civilians playing tourists on such a minefield. “

Col Verma explained patiently, “It's not a war field yet. You just have to act like yourself and allow these guys to film you in the process. How difficult it could be ? Ministry thinks that we need all the coverage we can get and what better way to get some journos to see what we army guys daily go through protecting country's borders ?
These guys are not completely ignorant. Lead journalist has covered Kargil war from the battlefield itself. I believe that she can handle herself fairly well at peacetime.”

“She was more trouble than anything else then. I don't think that she has improved a bit ”

“You are the one to judge that Major. Col Verma replied sternly. “ We have our orders and we have to follow them to best of our ability. These journalists, one of them a cameraman will be at your post by 5am by chopper. You'll allow them to do their work as explained in written order. Am I clear on this ? “

“Yes Sir. Over and out.”


Maj Ajay disconnected the radio call and walked out of his weather proof shelter. He was in charge of 11 posts spread about on the mountainous terrain, each one manned by 8-12 men. Their main task was to prevent infiltration of Paki terrorists across this difficult terrain.
Each post was constructed within line of sight of at least one other post, sometimes two. But bad weather and almost daily fog during winters nullified any advantage that such arrangement provided. Each post consisted of 1-3 concrete bunker manned by 2 man heavy machine gun teams. Some of the posts had mortars for heavier fire-power and could call for artillery fire from 120 and 155mm guns cleverly hidden a few km behind them. This artillery was useful to suppress the Paki border guards whenever they tried to provide covering fire to the infiltrators. Soldiers usually slept in pre-fabricated igloo like structures constructed of multi-layered fiber-glass and plastic material. This structure provided excellent protection against all kinds of weather.
But first line of defence for these soldiers was the fence on border. The fence itself was an formidable obstacle for any infiltrator. 12 feet high, electrified and covered with motion sensors, heat detectors and cameras with night vision, it was nearly impossible to cross. Number of successful infiltrations had come down drastically wherever the fence was constructed and soldiers were happy for that. Not all of the border was fenced due to the difficult terrain, forests and numerous nullahs and small rivers that abound in mountains. Thus there were some points where there were large gaps from where infiltrators regularly tried to slip in. Soldiers thus had to keep constant watch over such points. Each post sent out 6 men patrol thrice daily to check integrity of the fence and look out for terrorists from Pakistan trying to slip in.

By this time in October, winters usually set in and covered the whole area with snow making infiltration a very difficult affair for Pakis. Most of the infiltration attempts in this area were made just before this time. But winters were unusually mild this year. Only a light snowfall spread over 2 weeks happened and most of the snow melted before it snowed again. The whole area was covered with brown mud instead of white snow which was visible only on the highest rocky tips of the mountains. It made job of the soldiers doubly difficult. Not only there was no snow to slow down the infiltrators, it also made their patrol routes muddy and difficult to travel. Mules which carried most of supplies for these soldiers high up in the mountains often got stuck in the mud increasing their misery.

Pakis on other side of the fence were quite aware of this and were trying to take full advantage of the situation. In spite of the mess their own country was in, they were sparing no effort to push in as many terrorists as possible across the border. According to intelligence reports, there were a minimum of 60 terrorists waiting in various jihadi safe houses across the border, each one guarded by Paki army personnel. More terrorists were streaming in every day from terrorist training camps all around the area. Fence was taking the brunt of their attempts at infiltration and Pakis were trying to create as much gaps as possible by directly shelling and cutting it under the cover of darkness. There were reports of Pakis digging tunnels below the fence and Indians were leaving no stone unturned to counter this. Orders had come in to increase duration and frequency of the patrols. In addition to the usual gear, each patrol now carried a video camera to document all the damage and repair work done on the fence. These extended patrols were taking their toll on Indian soldiers who were short of manpower even during relatively peaceful periods.

All of this was on Maj Ajay's mind as he saw a patrol team from his post come in after repairing yet another breach in the fence a few km away. He shrugged away all thoughts of the impeding visit of the journos as he prepared himself for reporting by the team. Varsha Butt from UNDE TV was not due to land for another 9 hours.

To maintain seriousness I suggest a change of names, reluctantly

Hi Jamwal,

It is really great story and I loved reading it. I would be waiting for you to follow on the story!

Thanks for such a lovely treat!

Cheers,
RnJ

Wow man BRF'ites are blessed with some imagination, you guys churn out fantastic variety of literature at will. If I had to write a paper on a subject well known to me, I stare at my monitor for hours and the result is a piddle five lines of crap. (Oh and I shiver in my dhoti when I have to present it thereafter)

I like your pace Jamwal (of action, as well as posting), keep going. And boss can you please not completely " * " out the obscenities? For example if general beg-gar calls general asgar "that bloody Chu**yaa"; a ******** is not going to give the reader any context on how beg (or the author) really felt towards asgar, hain jee?

All BR members are mature enough and we know how our SDRE girls feel about pakis NSFW

I'm not *****ing the swear words. It's the forum software. I get your point though. Will keep that in mind

Chapter 10

07:30 Hours
28 Oct 2010
Point 711 Border Post
Uri, J&K


Sub Gurung Thapa was proving to be an enthusiastic host for the two journalists. He had assumed the responsibility of a hospitable host right from the moment the chopper carrying Varsha Dutt and her cameraman Sidhesh Pathik had landed. Maj Ajay Singh had received the visitors himself, but then had handed over the reign to Gurung. He in turn was only too glad to have the opportunity of getting his photos clicked and having an attentive audience. It wasn’t everyday that reporters from national TV channels came visiting for interviews. After handing them much needed cups of hot coffee, he took the journalists on a guided tour of the small base, explaining everything about their daily routine. Varsha kept asking questions and nodding vigorously to his explanations while Sidhesh kept recording everything in his camera, not uttering a word. He had learnt to keep quiet when working alongside journalists with inflated egos and love for attention. He just paid full attention to the camera, leaving the journo to his/her own and it had worked for him quite well.

They were in middle of the guided tour when Gurung was called upon by Maj Ajay. The morning patrol had discovered breaches in fence nearby their post that needed immediate repairs. He had to leave the journalists under supervision of somebody else, while he accompanied the repair team Major Ajay was leading the team who wanted a first hand look himself. As her itinerary included a visit to actual LoC (Line of Control), Dutt had no great difficulty persuading Maj Ajay to let her accompany the repair team.

Actual site of the breach was less than a Km away from the post, but mountainous terrain and muddy trails prolonged their journey to 30 minutes. Breach was in a small clearing inside a lightly wooded area. There was a gentle slope just beside the Indian fence, broken by small hill like protrusions on the mountain on the Pakistani side. Pakistani presence was marked by two small bunkers on two such hills, about 800 metres apart from each other. One bunker which was on a slightly higher elevation provided a superior view of the surroundings, while the second one provided a cover to its flank from the right side. For any Pakistani infiltrator, it was an ideal place to cross over due to easier terrain, tree cover and firing cover by Pakistanis manning the bunkers.

Varsha Butt was struggling to keep up with the soldiers marching towards the breach. She had not expected her visit to fence to be an exhausting affair. So far it had consisted solely of her trying not to get left behind on the muddy and rocky trails. Her expensive Swiss made snow shoes and warm suit were covered with mud and in spite of 4 layers of clothing, cold wind was chilling her to the bone. The small 6 man team led by Maj Ajay would have been more considerate if the tensions were not so high. But they were under tremendous strain themselves and couldn’t afford such niceties. Sub. Gurung was cameraman of the team and he was responsible for recording all the damage to the fence and material required to repair it. Sidhesh had taken an instant liking for the cheerful Gorkha soldier and he was teaching him tricks of the photography. So, she was left with no one but herself to talk with. This she did with much gusto, grumbling to herself. Sidhesh once caught her talking to herself and considered slowing down for her. But he was enjoying Gurung’s anecdotes too much to do so.

The party reached the site of the breach and at once went down to business. Major Ajay assigned 3 soldiers to keep watch and 2 for repair of the fence. Gurung switched on his camcorder and started recording. The damage was not much, but a single man could pass through the breach with little difficulty. Varsha cornered Maj Ajay as soon as he was finished assigning duties and started another interview right there. Maj Ajay answered her questions as patiently he could while half of his mind was focused on the work being done by his men. He was also wary of an ambush by the Pakis and wanted the whole business to be over as soon as possible. His men reported that they’ll need 15 minutes to finish up the job. Varsha Dutt now wanted to rattle out her impressions of the visit with the fence and Paki border posts beyond that in the background besides her. Although it was dangerous, Ajay had no choice but to acquiesce to her demands.

She at once positioned herself at an advantageous point, where Sidhesh could capture a Paki border post and the fence at the same time while keeping her in focus. Sidhesh gave the ready signal and began recording, while she started her speech.
“So, here we are the Line of Control, where Indian soldiers stare at their Pakistani counterparts day after day, night after night. This line is dotted by thousands of posts on both sides where lakhs of able bodied men who could be employed more productively elsewhere, spend their lives keeping their so called “enemy” in their gun-sights all the time.” All the soldiers within earshot cringed in disgust. Oblivious to them, she rattled on, “We spend billions of rupees just to maintain status quo while billions of people go hungry everyday. Is this the right way to...”

Her speech was interrupted by a screeching sound coming from across the border. She stopped in mid-sentence and turned around looking for the source of the sound in confusion. Maj Ajay and his men knew the sound of Paki Type-81 mortar very well and immediately swung into action. Maj Ajay rushed towards the two journalists and started dragging them towards cover behind some large rocks. First mortar landed about 80 metres from their location as they were taking cover. Almost at once, Pakis from bunker on left opened up machine gun fire, pinning them down behind the rocks,

Although the soldiers were used to be under fire, it was not true for the journalists who were scared as hell. Varsha screamed at once. “What the hell is this ? Why are they firing on us ?”
“It must be an ambush. They deliberately damaged the fence, knowing very well that we’ll send our men to repair it and will be sitting ducks in process.” Ajay replied over the din of gun fire.
They ducked again instinctively when another mortar round came whooshing by and landed less than 40 metres from them.

“Pakis from the 2nd post are firing these mortars sir. We are not in their direct line of sight, so they can’t fire their machine guns on us. But we need to get out of this area as soon as possible.” Gurung shouted.

“This post in front must be providing them with our exact location. Chandra and Murugan, take up positions and provide us with covering fire while rest of us make a dash towards the tree cover. We’ll cover you when we reach there. Gurung, you escort Varsha and Sidhesh. Run towards the trees the moment Chandra and Murugan start their covering fire.”

Just then another mortar landed very near to the group showering them with dust and rubble. It was too much for Varsha, who at once jumped up from behind the rocks and started running, exposing herself to enemy fire. Gurung at once realised the danger she was in and jumped on her, pinning her to the ground. He then dragged her back to the cover behind rocks as she kept thrashing hysterically.

“You F**** moron. You will get me killed here ! Look at me. Why did you tackle me. All my clothes are now covered with mud. These clothes cost more than your annual salary and you’ve spoiled them. You’ll suffer for this you idiot.” She screeched.

“Calm down madam. He just saved your life. You can’t talk to him like that.” Maj Ajay intervened

“You need to shut up Major. You don’t realise who you are talking to. I left my comfortable studio to make a documentary on you dumbasses and this is how you treat me ? This is not acceptable. I’ll make sure that you all suffer for this.”

Gurung interrupted her charade, “Sir, the men are in position. Ready to leave at your order.”

“Very good. Chandra, Murugan, start firing. Rest of the men, follow me” Maj Ajay ordered in a calm voice..

“She coming too, sir ?” Gurung asked, gesturing towards Varsha who now lay prone behind the rocks.

“Yes. Drag her if you have too . Just ignore whatever she says.”


Murugan and Chandra had taken up positions behind 2 large rocks and started firing on the Paki machine gun with their INSAS. Even though, distance was large for an assault rifle, their accurate fire silenced Paki machine gun for a while. It was the opening that Maj Ajay was waiting for. He ordered the team to rush out at once. Paki gunners saw them trying to escape and opened up fire again. But the team reached safe positions before Pakis had the chance to adjust their aim and fire accurately. Maj Ajay then ordered men alongside him to provide covering fire for Chandra and Murugan who rejoined the team safely. After checking whether everybody was OK, Ajay assigned 2 of his men to escort the two journalists to a safer place, while he called for reinforcements and fire on the Paki posts from adjacent Indian posts.

He didn’t know it yet, but Pakis had just started unprovoked firing on 11 other locations along LoC in J&K. Ceasefire along the border was no longer in force

Interesting read. Just a couple of things to point out. I doubt a JCO will serve as an orderly to an officer and you actually typed Barkha in the last post (1st line 8th para). Also Gurung & Thapa are both surnames and you demoted the poor fella from subedar to havildar unless you are writing about another gurung thapa.

Barkha??
Whatever happened to Varsha??? ...

Added Later: Ticky beat me to it..

Thanks for pointing out the mistakes. It's the same Sub Gurung Thapa. Sorry about the name. I think I read the name in a book about World War II and it stuck in memory. Could be wrong but I'd rather stick with it for now. Now I know why writers need editors

The last part was hilarious. Waiting for more antics from Bakra oops Varsha

name are minor nitpick guys... lets ignore them and enjoy the writing of jamwal....

Chapter 11

10:00 Hours
28 Oct 2010
PM House
New Delhi, India

Everybody in the meeting room wore a grim expression. None of them had expected things to deteriorate so fast. Defence Minister was supposed to be on his way to Russia for a meeting with his Russian counterpart. News of the attempted coup had come in middle of the night and he had to postpone his trip. Air Force Chief had cut short his tour of some newly activated air fields in the north-east. He could have registered his presence using video-conferencing, but he preferred to be physically present. Right now, he was exchanging notes with the Army chief who was looking even more serious than usual. Last men to enter the meeting room were PM and NSA chief Angad, both earnestly involved in a conversation. Everybody rose up to greet the PM who took up his usual seat and motioned NSA Chief to start his briefing immediately.

"Good morning, gentlemen. We are a bit short on time due to radically changing situations in our neighbourhood. I'll come straight to the point. Last night, there was an attempted coup in Pakistan. Some serving Pakistani soldiers, believed to be loyal to General Asgar tried to kidnap or kill General Beg inside his residence. General Beg escaped unharmed, but his
wife and nearly 20 of his soldiers were killed. At the same time, his new second in command, General Khalid was kidnapped. His present whereabouts are unknown. Beg had promoted General Khalid in staff meeting last night to replace General Asgar. Right after the news of this attack started to spread, there were reports of gun fights among Pakistani soldiers in various cantonments all over the country. 100s of Pakistani soldiers are believed to be dead or missing in the bloodshed."

Pakistan has seen numerous coups, but this one is unprecedented in terms of players involved and the bloodshed that followed. This infighting inside Pakistani army is sure to affect their already weak civil society badly. Pakistani civilians were already reeling under bomb blasts and subsequent riots. This mutiny will have serious consequences not only for Pakistanis but even us. This meeting is called for discussing our plan of action regarding this issue."


DM was in an unusually bad mood, partly due to postponement of his trip and he was not hiding his displeasure, "Damn these idiots! Who is in control of their nuclear weapons now ? "

"In comparatively normal circumstances, General Beg . Whatever we know of Pakistani nuclear system, even if Asgar manages to get hold of a few bombs, he wouldn't be able to use them. Not even against us." Angad replied

"How is that ?" DM asked eagerly.

"In return for their dollars, Americans had forced Pakis to consolidate their nukes in to a centralised system that can be monitored continuously and deactivated to prevent it's misuse in conditions just like this. Their man Beg, had all the launch codes and even if any rogue element manages to launch a missile against us, it wouldn't cause a nuclear explosion. " Angad explained.

"You mean to say, that right now all of their nukes are useless against us ?"

" Not exactly. Only the arsenal that they couldn't hide is under control. Rest of it might still be usable."

"That's not a comforting thought." HM observed dryly

"It certainly isn't" NSA chief agreed.

DM was on verge of hysteria, "The whole country is breaking down. Even the army that used to hold the place together is divided now. What stops any fanatic to take advantage of the chaos and take control of a few nukes! We have to take some action."

"And what might that be ? Do you have anything in mind ?" PM inquired

"Well, I can't think of anything right now" DM conceded. But surely military can think of something. What do you suggest gentlemen ?" he asked turning to the service chiefs sitting besides him for help

Army chief began, "Right now, anything we do will potentially be seen as adding fuel to the fire. They , I mean some of them actually want us to get involved in the mess. This morning, Pakistanis started firing at our border posts in J&K breaking the cease fire agreement."

"Pakis have always been firing all year round to provide cover for their terrorists. What's different his time ?" HM interrupted.

"The scale of firing is unprecedented. Earlier Pakis shelled our positions either to provide diversion or covering fire to their terrorist infiltrating into India, but this time they are specifically targeting our soldiers and positions. This is not limited to a limited area. Our positions in Kargil, Siachen, Uri, Punch, Rajauri, practically whole of the north and north-west sector in J&K came under intense fire today. It's still going on in many places. According to the orders, our men showed restraint and refrained from responding in the same way. Our causalities were light for the scale of fire, but our luck wouldn't hold for long.

"We can't fall in to this trap. If we don't show restraint this whole thing will blow up in our faces." PM said in a worried voice.

General Zoravar Singh was expecting this, "I don't disagree sir, but consequences will be far more serious if we don't take any action. We lost 3 men in the firing today with 14 wounded. The toll is mounting even as we discuss the issue. Letting our soldiers die just like that is completely
unacceptable. We have to show those Pakis that they can't take play nuke card every time to inflict damage on us. If we surrender to Pakis today, Chinese will surely try to take advantage, They have already taken control of a large part of PoK. what stops Chinese from indulging in similar mischief to further weaken and embarrass us ?

"Yes. He is right. Pakis tried to play dirty in Kargil too, thinking that we wouldn't dare attack them since they had nukes. But after we did, they washed off their hands of the whole issue. Buggers even refused to acknowledge their own dead. What if we had not taken any action and allowed
them to stay fearing a nuclear attack ? DM added

"How do Chinese fit in to this picture ? Are they involved ? And who in Pakistan gave the orders to start the firing ?" PM asked.

" Well, Chinese involvement is what worrying us the most. As discussed in the last meeting,
General Asgar is just their puppet. I'd be really surprised if we don't find any proof of their involvement in this coup. Apart from this, the area in northern J&K, where we came under fire is too close to places Chinese are present. We know for sure that Chinese have spread their tentacles much beyond the highways and tunnels they were building."

As for who is coordinating this firing, most of the evidence points to General Asgar. For starters, he was CO of the Pak Army HQ in Gilgit during Musharraf's time. Further, commanders currently serving there are believed to be loyal to him."

PM's already worried face assumed a horrified expression, "So if we retaliate to Paki firing, there is a real possibility of Chinese getting involved too ? This is too much for us."

DM lost all of his patience,"Chinese have no ground to take any offense. All of J&K, including POK is ours and these turds have no business being there in first place. And we are retaliating to unprovoked Paki firing on our positions. We have all the right to do anything we want to protect
ourselves."

"What if all this is a Chinese conspiracy to pick up a fight ?" HM spoke up.

"So what! We give them a fight. Why the hell are we spending so much money on defence when a 3rd rate terrorist sink hole can kill our soldiers at it's own pleasure ? " DM's voice was getting too loud for ears of the soft-spoken PM and he winced in annoyance.

"So, what do you want ? An all out war ? "

"Of course not. But taking such provocations lying down is highly unsuitable for a country aspiring to be in UNSC. It's your pet dream after all, isn't it ?" DM shot back, much to the surprise of everybody present in the meeting. HM cleared his throat and intervened, "Cool down Shivendra jee. It's not the time or place for this. There is always a peaceful way."

"Don't you think that I know this ? DM replied, in a milder tone. "But there has to be a limit. There is nothing stopping us from at least bombing the hell out of buggers who are shelling us. "

Army chief took the cue, " Yes. Our hands are tied due to the ceasefire agreement. Now that they've themselves broken it, we have no obligation to play nice. At the very minimum, we should have the authority to destroy Paki positions which are firing on us."

"What about Chinese ?" HM asked

DM answered the question before Army chief could, "What about them ? We are defending ourselves from Paki firing. If they object, they wouldn't have a leg to stand upon. "

PM took a deep breath and asked "Are you sure General, that firing back is the right thing to do ?"

Army Chief responded , "We do have the option to stay quite and take the blows, but for what ? We are losing soldiers even as we sit here. Some of the firing has affected civilian areas too. A journalist from a national TV channel was filming a documentary on our border posts in Uri, when it came under fire."

HM had not forgotten the pestering he had endured by the TV channel to grant permission for documentary. He rolled his eyes and interrupted, "Yes, that Varsha Butt from UNDE TV. Saw her showing off her wounds and posing like she is some kind of war heroine . It was a mistake allowing her to be there." Realising somewhat belatedly that he was interrupting the Army chief, he apologised and requested him to continue.

Army Chief acknowledged his apology with a curt nod and resumed, " Not responding will encourage Pakis as well as Chinese to cause even more trouble. It's effect on moral of armed forces as well as civilians is anybody's guess. We are not asking for permission for an all out attack on Pakistan. We just want the authority to defend ourselves against Paki firing."


"And you are sure that the things wouldn't spiral out of control ? What if they start firing in other places too "

" I can't give you 400% guarantee of anything apart from that my soldiers will not overstep their authority in any condition." General replied plainly. "As for rest of the international border apart from J&K is concerned, we can be reasonably sure that the Pakistani Rangers in the sector will not act in same way as their Army counterparts in J&K. We have no reason to believe that Rangers will dance to Asgar's tunes.In addition, they don't have the Chinese card to threaten us here. Pakistani forces are in no position for a offensive anywhere. Our forces are on a high alert anyway and can start mobilising within hours of receiving the orders."

"Will you require support from Air Force or Navy ? "

"We had discussed the issue among ourselves before the meeting. My men will surely need support from AF to transport men and materials. Navy can be used to impose a sea blockade, but that's not necessary now. We can handle the offensive part ourselves. Involving AF or Navy offensively will escalate matters. "

"That reminds me, what about their Air Force and Navy?" DM asked Angad.

"Although their Air Force is in control of some nuclear bombs, they just can't launch their aircraft carrying them without us or Americans knowing. Specially since only a few F16s are nuke capable and Americans have kept a tight leash on them .
As for Navy, we don't think that they pose any serious threat to us. Mutiny in army has affected these 2 forces in the same way and operational readiness is severely degraded. Hell, I'd be surprised if they manage to fly even regular sorties. Even then we are taking no chances and we all of them under continuous surveillance. If they try doing anything funny, we'll be the first to know.


For first time since the meeting started, PM looked slightly at ease, "That's some comparatively better news. Very well General. You have my permission to fire back in if Pakistanis fire at you. But under no conditions, our men will cross the LoC. You can't imagine the pressure I'm currently in. People want me to just offer the other cheek. "

"I understand Sir. We'll try our best to keep things under check." A visibly relieved General Zoravar Singh replied.

"I suppose that's all there is to it ? Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a meeting scheduled with the American ambassador. Shivendra jee, do you have your statement on situation in Pakistan ready yet ? Let's discuss it in my office. PM rose up signaling end of the meeting.

Poor PM !! wish we could have clone shashtri Ji then...

a great story in the making..Thanks for the effort..


i'll second that..
he sure would have kicked some chi-pak a** while dealin with the pressure..

jamwal ji - how come our dear Finance and External affairs ministers are absent from such meetings...

It's better if people keep point out the mistakes. Keeps the story tight and less confusing.
Haven't included more people because frankly can't think of how it'll go with so many people. At any case, FM and EA ministry need not be present unless till now , IMHO onlee.

Chapter 12

17:45 Hours
Point 6431
Poonch, Jammu




Joining army was more of an accident than a conscious career choice for Shubharanjan. As a 11 years old kid, he had seen the Kargil war on TV and like every other kid of his age, he too watched the events unfolding on TV with rapt attention then forgot about it afterwards as pressure of studies and other stuff associated with growing up took all of his time. As an average student, he did alright in school and joined a fairly well reputed college. There, he joined NCC just for the extra grades it offered and completed level C. As the time of graduation approached, he too started applying for jobs with various private sector companies and government agencies, hoping to grab a well paying job like all of his classmates.

He was not entirely successful in his endeavours, managing only a clerical job in a small start up company that didn't pay enough to justify the long hours his boss demanded. He got bored of the job within weeks and started looking for change. Most of his classmate were doing comparatively well, but a lot were stuck in jobs that they hated, just like him. One day he received a letter containing his admit card for the SSB exam. He had filled up the form on the NCC counter in his college months ago without really giving it a thought and had forgotten all about it. Although he enjoyed his stint with NCC, he had never given a serious thought to idea of joining armed forces as a career choice or even as a way to serve the nation. Nobody in his family had been in armed forces, except one of the cousins of his mother and he too was in police.

“Well, what the hell! What's the harm in trying ? ” He said to himself and attended the exam, then again promptly forgot about it until the day he received the letter informing him that he had passed the written and was required to attend the second round for face to face interviews and physical tests. In good physical condition, he cleared the physicals easily but was shown the door in one of face to face interviews. Piqued and puzzled by his disqualification at almost the last round, he discussed the matter with one of his college mates whose elder brother was a Colonel in the army. The Colonel was gracious enough to listen and give him as much guidance as he could in his limited time. Although in meanwhile, he had managed to land another job that paid better than the previous one, he applied again for the SSB. Even though he still had doubts about clearing the exam, much to his own surprise he did so in second attempt.


His father was both proud and slightly amused while his mother showed more of a horrified surprise than pride. Both had been in government service their whole lives and idea of their only son joining the army had never crossed their mind. They had expected him to complete his studies, get a job somewhere , preferably in government sector and start his own family within a few years of job, just like rest of the extended family. He was even well on the expected path and now this army thing ! What with it's risks and postings to remote places that no one even heard about.

The very concept was alien to them, but they had to give in to his wishes. Sure there was a little danger but it's not that everybody died. Private sector job was ok but was boring as hell and he had loved the NCC. He even won 2 awards, didn't he ? Additionally, even army was paying a competitive salary after the 6th Pay Commission. Who else in the whole family had the honour of wearing the olive green uniform ? And most importantly, finding a girl for marriage wouldn't be hard now.

He resigned from the job next day and joined IMA for his training which he passed respectably. His first tour of duty in Punjab was peaceful and routine in every aspect and lasted 4 months. After which he was transferred to J&K, which everybody rightly expected to be his first brush with real action. He had arrived at his post known only by Point 6431 in two weeks ago as an almost fresh Lieutenant still learning the ropes.

^^ Agree sir; as you deem fit

I thought of EA Minister as he may deal with all US \EU presssure... anyways scenario is going perfect... keep it coming

Please drop ji from the name. Me a tootaa chappal, fataa dhoti SDRE onlee

Chapter 12 (Part 2)


Point 6431 was just one of countless mountain peaks that formed the rugged landscape on India-Pakistan Line Of Control in J&K. Like with every other mountain peak right on the border, this one too had army posts manned all year round. Maintaining round the clock vigil all through the year was tough in summers and murderous in winters. The process was exhausting, expensive and most of all, took it's toll on the soldiers who considered a posting like this akin to a punishment tour. Cut off from rest of the civilisation, except for the field radio in small bunker high up in a god forsaken mountain, all the while keeping up constant vigil was nobody's idea of fun. But still, the work had to be done. Neither side was sparing any effort to better or at the very least, keep up with the other side.

Conditions were not always like this though. Prior to Kargil war in 1999, most of the posts high up in the mountains were vacated during winters and reoccupied in summers by both armies. Both India and Pakistan had a gentleman's agreement on the issue and neither side tried to occupy others empty posts. The truce between two sworn enemies had held in spite of some hiccups till 1999, when Pakistani army broke the agreement and occupied numerous Indian posts while they were empty during winters. Intruders were regular Paki army personnel disguised as “mujahideen”. Indian intelligence and armed forces were caught with their pants down. A limited, yet bloody war ensued with Indian Army throwing waves of infantry and artillery attacks against a well established enemy in an impossible terrain. The war took it's toll on both sides. India lost more than 600 soldiers and 5 aircraft in a war that lasted just more than three weeks. Losses on Pakistani side were much higher. Indians claiming more than 1400 while Pakistanis claiming no more than 300. Pakistanis owned up some of their dead 11 years later. They had to do it sooner or later, specially since loss of a whole army unit, NLI was difficult to hide anyway.

One of the effects of that war was a halt on the practice of abandoning posts during winters. All along LOC, new bunkers were constructed, existing one fortified with more supplies and armies on both sides started their 365 days a year watch.

But Point 6431 differed from rest of the peaks. It had immense strategic value for both sides. It had been in Indian control since 1947 and unlike many other peaks, it's posts were never abandoned during winters even before 1999. Much of it's strategic value came from it's unique position. It was directly on top of Bahu pass, that connected Indian territory with Pakistan. Although the pass had been in disuse for 6 decades, it was still a vital feature for both the sides. It was the only place in the sector which allowed tanks from either side to cross over in to the other. Both sides had realised the possibility and constructed roads that could support heavy armour movement right up to the opening. But Pakistanis had a major disadvantage in the fact that whoever controlled Pt. 6431 effectively controlled the pass and the control was in Indian hands.

One other advantage that controller of the peak enjoyed was the strategic view it offered, on both sides of border, specially Pakistani. While terrain on Indian side behind the peak was still uneven and covered with smaller mountains, Pakistani was more or less flat with only a small series of hillocks that actually marked the end of the mountain range in this area. Although it gave Pakis an easier and faster terrain to move their convoys, control of the peak in Indian hands negated much of their advantage. Any movement they made was difficult to hide from the Indians. Even the small 130 mm field guns and 81 mm mortars on top of the mountain were deadly and had extended range due to the altitude advantage. Additionally, they could always call for backup from the heavier 155mm Bofors guns which were placed only a few Km back.

Importance of the pass was further increased after an old but disused route connecting Poonch to Shopian in Kashmir was activated. In earlier times, the route was used by Mughals to travel to Kashmir. It passed through Jammu, Rajauri, Poonch and terminated in Shopian in Kashmir. The new road, formally named as Mughal Road was less than 1 hours drive from the pass and the side controlling it had a very easy route to reach both Kashmir as well as Jammu in a short amount of time.

One of the first things that Lt. Shubharanjan had noticed about the peak was the time required for travel to the post on the mountain top from army base camp just on the foot-hills. First time he traveled, it took him more than 5 hours to climb the nearly 6000m high mountain. At many places the path was no more than a small mule trail, that afforded barely enough foot-hold for a loaded mule to pass through. Iron chains and ropes were nailed in at many places to provide a hand hold for the men. Any body slipping at any such place was sure to die a quick yet gruesome death on hard rocks hundreds of meters below. Getting down from the top was as difficult as going up, in some places more difficult due to the loose rock and gravel. Mules and porters carried much of the supplies above, with an occasional chopper pitching in whenever available.
Conditions on Pakistani side were much easier though. The peak was more like a gentle slope albeit littered with large rocks, that extended many km down in to the Pakistani side. It also took much less time to travel and getting men and supplies on the top was much easier and safer. They could have very well constructed a road if it was not for Indians controlling the peak.


He had staggered on to the peak tired, cold and out of breath in spite of the excellent physical condition he was in. His CO, a jolly Major Baljit Singh Randhwa had laughed on seeing his condition and immediately offered him a drink of brandy which Lt Shubhranjan gratefully accepted. He was filled in on the history and importance of the post by the Major himself. But it was Subedar Sonam Stobbdhan who taught him about life on top of the mountain. Among all men, he had spent the most time on the post and was the senior most NCO. He was also the leader of artillery spotter team and had taught many soldiers tricks of bringing accurate artillery fire in mountains.

Lt Shubhranjan had shown good marksmanship in NCC as well as IMA training and was given charge of the machine gun posts. There were 2 INSAS LMGs (Light Machine Gun) and 2 MGA1 HMGs (Heavy Machine Gun) placed in fortified concrete bunkers spread around the top. 2 mortar teams, each armed with 81mm mortars were usually positioned in the middle. They could move to a different position when required.
Heavier fire power was provided with M-46 130mm field guns. Although old, these Soviet manufactured artillery guns were in good condition and had fair range and accuracy for their caliber. These were placed in dug in positions shielded by the rocks and sand bags to protect them from counter-artillery fire and to hide the muzzle flash. Although in theory these guns could be moved around, there was no place to do so on the mountain top. The guns were carried up in completely knocked down condition by helicopters and mules and then assembled on top. Ammunition was transported in the same laborious way, 2-3 shells on a single mule at a time.
Close in fire support was provided by 6 more riflemen armed with standard 5.56mm INSAS rifles.

Soldiers wished for more fire power and men, it was almost impossible to do so using mule-porter system and already scarce Chetak and Cheetah light helicopters. Dhruvs with their higher carrying capacity were beginning to share some of the work load, but they were in short supply too. Even if they could move in more supplies and men, there was little space for either on top.

Chapter 12 (Part 3)



Lt. Shubhranjan had learned of the above mentioned fact on second day of his arrival when he had to scramble towards cover when Pakis started shelling the place. He was on a familiarisation tour of the post with Sub. Sonam playing the tour guide, when sound of first shell screeching towards the post hit their ears. Both men immediately scrambled towards the nearest bunker, reaching there only seconds before first of the shell landed, albeit well short of the place they were in. Pakistanis were using 122 mm Type 54, Chinese copy of Soviet M30 and ironically, Type 59I which were Chinese copy of M46 that the Indians had. Indians retaliated with shelling of their own. The duel ended as soon as it had started. Pakis didn't want to risk needling Indians more than usual due to the strategic advantage latter held and Indians on the other hand, were almost always short of ammunition.

Sitting in the bunker while guns were blazing, Shubhranjan had not realised the cramped conditions inside. There was barely enough space for 2 man crew of the machine gun in the bunker and addition of 2 extra men had left little room for anyone to move without bumping into somebody else. He was too busy to pay any attention to this as he watched Sub. Sonam providing coordinates to the artillery crew on the short range radio. But he couldn't help but notice shaking of earth as Paki shells landed close by and Indian guns fired back. Although both sides had fired only 5 shells each in less than 2 minutes, it has seemed liked an eternity to the young Lt, who was facing enemy fire for the first time. Slightly shocked and disoriented, he had just sat there until Sub. Sonam shook him awake after the firing stopped.

“Are you OK sir ? Don't worry about this. Ye sab to chalta hi rehataa hai." The veteran Subedar had told him with a nonchalant grin and went out of the bunker motioning the still confused Lt. to follow him.
They were met by Major Baljit who was always in a cheerful mood, irrespective of whatever was going around. He slapped Shubhranjan on the shoulder and asked, “ So Lt., did you liked the Paki welcome ? Quite a show they put on to make you feel special, didn't they ?“

Subhranjan was still gathering his wits and could only mumble confusedly, “Yes sir!”

Both of other men laughed on hearing this much to the discomfort of somewhat embarrassed Lt. “Don't worry Lt. You will get used to it. It's nothing much.” Major Baljit said in a kindly way.

Although he nodded his agreement, Subhranjan still couldn't understand how could anybody get used to high explosive shells exploding around him. “Around”, if the chap is somewhat lucky. No amount of luck is going to help someone who gets a direct hit, even within meters.” He thought to himself.


Next few days passed away in a similar way with Pakis marking their presence with an occasional burst of shelling which kept Indians on their toes. Pakis had the advantage of a terrain suitable for moving around and always fired from a different location, unlike Indians who were forced to stay in a restricted area. Although it somewhat evened out the odds, neither side liked it's status. After all, no body likes to fight an evenly matched enemy, let alone a more powerful one. Much of the work on Indian side consisted on keeping an eye on Paki movements, just to keep the odds even.

This task they performed using high powered binoculars and with additional thermal sights during night or heavy fog. Recently, army HQ in Poonch had managed to get hold of a couple of Heron UAVs. Although it had made the task much easier, there was simply too much ground to be covered by only two UAVs. Local commanders had been pressing for more UAVs but the equipment and trained manpower were hard to come by. It meant that, they could manage to receive pictures and live video feed of their sector only once every two days. Rest of the time, they had to depend on their own eyes and binoculars. Looking at the pictures taken by Heron for first time, Shubranjan immediately noticed the immense force multiplier effect an eye-in-the sky provided. Even during low visibility conditions caused by fog, clouds or night, thermal imaging cameras of the UAV could capture every detail of men and machines on the ground and stream back the images in real-time to their handlers. He had talked about it with Major Baljit and wished that they could have more time with the UAVs. Major had replied simply, “We fight with what we have Lt., not with what we wish for. I agree with what you said, but we simply don't have the resources right now. “
Seeing the expression on of Subhranjan's face, he had smiled and continued, “ That's what Brigadier Gagan said to me when I asked him for more UAVs just the way you said. Who are we to question the old man, eh ? I know he is trying his best. Who knows, we might get more in coming days.”

Too good Jamwal...Keep it up!

The names "Point 1234" etc were not random numbering but the altitude of the peak in meters. Point 6431 would be 6431 meters or 21,000 feet. Siachen Glacier starts at an altitude of 5750 meters. The Nishant UAV has a service ceiling of 3,600 meters.

Shouldn't that be NLI?

JAKLI is an Indian unit - Jammu and Kashmir Light infantry. Clifford Nongrum who got a posthumous MVC in Kargil was from JAKLI.

The unit that was "wiped out" was the Pakistan NLI, Northern Light Infantry.

Thanks for pointing out the mistakes. You can't believe how embarrassing it is to mess up such things. Capt (Hon.) Bana Singh, PVC belongs to JAKLI.

Stupid me.

@Jamwal - Don't be embarrassed...you are doing good job..we all make mistakes...Keep it up!

Chapter 12 (Part 4)

Things had gone on as expected with Subhranjan. He had learnt from his his first experience of being in enemy fire and as the more experienced soldiers had predicted, learnt to took it in stride. After nearly 2 weeks, his initial “welcome” was just another part of life on the border. Still, the soldiers watched the events unfolding in Pakistan warily. They knew that any kind of unrest in Pakistan will definitely affect the peace on border. They were not entirely wrong in this assumption and Pakis proved them right by increasing the amount of shelling just after the news of attack on Paki President had hit the news channels.
Although they were under strict orders to exercise restraint, Indians had no choice but to retaliate in self-defence. The shelling that lasted for a maximum of 10-12 rounds earlier, had now escalated to full blown artillery duels being fought on multiple locations. Now after 2 days of facing intense firing Indians were hoping that the news of coup will dampen the enthusiasm of Pakis and volume of fire might decrease. Much to their disappointment, Pakis had actually increased the tempo.

The 3 senior most ranking personnel on Point 6431, Major Baljit, Lt. Shubharanjan and Subedar Sonam were huddled in a bunker discussing their plan of action in current situation. The walls of the bunker were covered with maps and recently taken pictures of Paki positions by Heron UAVs . Things were not going well for Indians. They were running short of ammunition due to paucity of stocks. The convoys that were expected to bring more supplies were delayed due to bad weather and land slides. Bad weather had also stopped the base camp from sending mules and porters up.

“What's our inventory situation Sonam?” Major Baljit without lifting his eyes from the reports he was studying.

“We are running short of ammunition for our M46s as well as 81mm mortars. Stocks for both are reduced to 31 and 42 rounds respectively. We do have enough grenades and bullets for our rifles, but that's only because we haven't had to fire them, yet. We still have enough food and water to last us a week” Sub Sonam was quick to reply.

“Going by the current rate of fire, these stocks wouldn't last for more than a day. When are we going to get more supplies ?” Shuhranjan couldn't help wondering aloud.

Sonam gestured towards the small window of the bunker “Our mules can't carry anything up due to this bloody fog and rain. They tried sending some men in the morning but the team had to turn back within 1 hour of leaving the camp. Using choppers in these conditions too risky. We can only hope that the weather eases soon.”

“Even if the mules start their journey right now, it'll take them at least 3 hours to reach here. If our ammo runs out sooner then their arrival, we will be in real deep shit.”

“What do we do then sir? “ Sonam asked Major Baljit.

“We'll have to use our ammunition more judiciously. Fire only when you have a sure fix on their position. No need wasting firing just for the effect.”
Taking up a pointing stick, he pointed out position of Paki guns on maps and pictures, “Herons took these pictures last night. As you can clearly see, we did manage to hit one of their big guns in previous night's shelling. But they still have 2 more type 59Is and 3 Type 54s spread all over this sector, most of them pointed in our general direction. Although 59Is have more range, it's 54s that worry me more. These smaller guns are comparatively more mobile and can proved really hard to counter if Pakis keep moving them as they've started to do recently. Am, I clear on this ? “ He asked.

Both men nodded their agreement and Major continued, “Lt., I'll need you to check on machine guns and mortar crews. Make sure the they are ready to fire and have enough ammunition. You never know when we might need to fire them. Sonam, come with me. I want to check the big guns myself.”
With this he ended the meeting and went out of the bunker followed by his two juniors. Subhranjan watched the two men walk towards M46 positions while he himself started his walk towards machine gun bunkers.


He found the soldiers slightly tired and wary but in good spirits otherwise. He was in first bunker on the eastern side when he heard the sound of artillery shells streaking in.
Even just by listening to the sound of the shells as they streaked towards his post, Shubhranjan realised that something was different. But he didn't have enough time to guess what. Within seconds, 1 shell landed smack in middle of the post area, with 2 passing over the peak.
“Damn it! They are firing 155mm shells. “ Lance Naik Joginder shouted in surprise.

“Seems like they have a good lock on our position as well. You sure it's 155mm ? “ Shubhranjan shouted back, his ears ringing by sounds of the blast.

“100% sure sir! These shells are much bigger and even clearing the peak this time. Their 130mms cant fire that far.” Joginder replied back.

Their conversation was interrupted by the boom of Indian M46s firing back at the Pakis.

Joginder grinned at the Lt., “Heh! That's sure to teach those idiots some good lesson.”

Right about then, 1 of the shells fired by Pakis got lucky and landed smack on one of Indian M46s. The ammunition dump right next to the gun caught fire and some of the shells exploded.

Shubhranjan heard the racket with a sickening feeling as he remembered that both Major Baljit and Subedar Sonam were supposed to be right there. He at once scrambled out of the bunker and started running towards the gun's position. He stopped in his tracks when a badly wounded soldier, covered in soot and dust staggered in front of him and collapsed. He muttered deliriously, “Nobody survived sir. The shell landed right on our position.” Shubhranjan asked the soldier to keep quiet and shouted for the medic. He was also scrambling towards the gun's position along with his assistant. He at once started administering first aid to the wounded soldier.

Shubhranjan left the 3 men there and resumed his search for his two compatriots. He stopped dead in his tracks when he came across the gun's position. The small clearing was nothing but a mess of twisted metal, smoke and fire. Overcome by fear and desperation he sprinted towards the clearing trying to find survivors. All he could find was splashes of blood and a few dismembered limbs. Unable to control himself, he collapsed on his knees and puked. He didn't knew how much time had passed as he vaguely felt rather than heard sounds of more explosions as the fight got more intense. He was shaken out of his state by the medic who was trying to drag him back towards cover.

He shook away his arm and said confusedly, “What are you doing ?” Pointing at the place where the gun was, he screamed, “We have to help them ! Come with me !”

That medic, another NCO in the unit replied gently, “We can't help them sir. They are all dead. But we need to get back in to cover.”

“But Major Baljit and Sub Sonam were there.”

“I know sir. They are both dead. The wounded soldier you saw earlier saw them die with his own eyes. Now, we have to get out of this exposed position in to cover. Please hurry up.”

I hate being in a pacifist India... I am sorry i did not mean to offend the nation, but its political ideology.... Whether it is 1947, or 65 or 71 or 99 or 2012, I dont know why every time we are running short of arms and ammunition... Hate these politicians for the same... Dont know until when soldiers like Maj Baljit and Sub Sonam will die because of inadequate resources...

Chapter 13


He stumbled back into the command bunker where he had last discussed their strategy with now dead Major and Subedar. All of it felt unreal to the young Lt. who just realised that now he was the senior most officer on the post and was responsible for the well being of all the men under his command. His attention was taken up by the radio which was cackling with excited chatter. He recognised voice of Colonel Saha from the base camp calling on their call-sign, “Watchguard Alpha. This is Base 1. Do you copy ? “

He picked up the receiver and replied, “ Base 1, this is Watchguard Alpha. “

“Thank god, somebody replied. Who are you? Identify yourself. What was that explosion ? ”

“This is Lt Shubhranjan. One Paki artillery shell hit one of our M46s. We lost 4 men including Major Baljit and Sub. Sonam.” Shubhranjan heard himself reporting mechanically.

“Shit !” Voice on the other end replied. “What about the other gun ? Do you have enough ammunition ?”

“Other gun is operational but we are fast running out of it's ammunition. For heavy fire power, we only have some mortars left.”

“Damn it !. Listen Lt. Activate your UAV feed. We have just started receiving live video from one of our UAVs flying in your sector. It seems like Pakis are making an attempt to capture your position.We can see their infantry moving up on the slope from west. Do you have a visual on them ?”

“Negative sir. Visibility is less than 100 metres.”

Colonel replied in a worried voice, “That's bad. That bird won't stay up there longer than 30 minutes. Listen Lt., As you might've known it by now, Pakis have moved in a couple of their M198s. We are sending you reinforcements and ammunition right now. You just hang in there tight and don't let those bas**** come anywhere near your positions.
Use your mortars, machine guns anything to hold their advance. We'll provide you support against their heavy artillery from our 155mm guns.” and added almost as an afterthought, “as long as our stocks last.”

“Understood sir. I will not let Pakis take this post” Shubhranjan said with much more confidence than he actually felt.

“Good luck son. Over and out.”

The young Lt. Was left staring at the headset of the communication gear for a while before he was jarred back into reality by sound of yet another Paki artillery shell landing close by. He immediately picked up the short ranged field radio to contact the crew of remaining M46 and filled them in with the new developments. The artillery crew in turn replied that they had only 13 shells remaining.


Indian 155mm gun crews immediately started targeting Paki gun positions after the feed from UAV started coming in. Indian soldiers on top of Pt 6431 could hear the distant rumble as Indian gunners fired off their first salvo targeting their Pakistani counterparts. Effect of this counter- artillery fire was immediate. Some of the Paki guns were forced to change their positions, thus providing some respite to besieged defenders on Pt 6431. But they were not quite out of danger yet. Pakistani infantry was still advancing along the rolling slope of the mountain. Even in the bad weather, Heron operators could see the mortars they were carrying. It was only a matter of minutes before they reached close enough to fire them.
Subharanjan hailed crew of his remaining M46 on radio and ordered them to concentrate their fire on advancing Paki infantry. Indians knew the territory like backs of their hands and the effect of their firing made it quite obvious. Still smarting from the losses they had sustained earlier, they let loose a volley of high explosive shells that very nearly wiped out the whole advancing column of Paki infantry.

Subhranjan watched in quiet fascination as he sat in front of UAV feed console watching shells exploding in between Pakis. But the invaders were spread out over a large area and there were not enough heavy guns to cover them all. Even as one of the advancing parties was wiped out, another group started racing upwards. Now, it was turn of Indian mortar crews. AS soon as they were in range, all of them started their fire simultaneously. Although the effects were not as spectacular as 130mm shells, they were not less deadly for the attackers. A lot of them were blown to pieces even as they were running on the slopes. Survivors tried to take cover behind the rocks, but mortars were still finding their mark with deadly results.

Subhranjan allowed himself a slight smile as he watched Paki offensive break up and loose steam under sustained Indian artillery and mortar fire. Pakis had been unable to come close enough for their machine guns or mortars to be of any use. They were counting on their own heavy artillery to suppress the defenders. Banking on element of surprise, dense fog and fast deteriorating light they felt they had good chance of taking the post without suffering too many causalities. But early warning given by UAV and subsequent Indian artillery fire had broken the back of their offensive. With their forces severely depleted and scattered, they ordered retreat causing quite a few roars of joy and laughter from Indians. But Indians were not quite out of woods yet. Ammunition for mortars and sole 130mm gun was almost depleted and reinforcements were still more than 3 hours away.

Colonel Saha came on the radio, “ Nice work Watchguard Alpha ! Paki infantry is retreating, good job by your mortars. Our Bofors guns managed to break up their artillery formation but not as well as I'd have liked. Still, they'll be out of action for some time. How are you faring up there ?“

“No further causalities sir, but we are all out of ammo for our 130mm. Less than 12 mortar rounds left. We need supplies immediately.”

“A team with reinforcements and ammunition is on it's way Lt. You can expect them in 3 hours maximum. There'll be no UAV coverage for 3-4 hours at least, as the bird needs to be refueled and repaired. You'll have to hold on to your position till then. ”
Subharanjan could feel the unease in Colonel's voice even as he broke the bad news. Lack of UAV coverage in such low visibility conditions was going to be a big handicap for Indians. Without UAV, they had to rely on their night vision devices, which had a very limited range and utility in comparison.

“I understand sir. Just try keep their heavy artillery off our backs and we can manage the rest.”

“Good. One of our convoys just delivered a artillery position locating radar. I've heard a lot of good things about it. Hope it'll do the the job.”

“One good news at last.”Subhranjan thought to himself then heard the Colonel say, “Listen son, I know I'm asking a lot from you, but you have to hold your positions until reinforcements arrive. A lot depends on you tonight. God bless.”

It's going to take much more than just blessings if we want to defend the peak against another attack. Subharanjan thought to himself and went out again to check on his men.

we can feel the intensity.... great writing...

Chapter 13 (Part 2)

All of them were saddened by loss of 4 of their friends but the hammering they had handed out to Pakis had helped their emotions somewhat. He called medic Havildar Hariom and asked him to assemble a team to collect bodies of the dead. He inquired about the injured soldier and came to know that his condition was stable but required more expert medical attention. He at first considered sending him down carried by 2 or more of his men on a stretcher but then decided against it. Path was too dangerous and weather too bad. Additionally he needed every hand to defend the post against further Paki attacks. He set out on another tour of his post to rearrange his defences. He moved the mortar teams to more covered nests and away from each other in order to protect them against artillery fire. He positioned 4 of his riflemen near the machine gun bunkers on western side from where 1st wave of Paki infantry had tried to break in. His artillery crew was now idle due to lack of ammunition and he ordered them to dig up additional trenches and place sandbags to provide additional cover for riflemen and mortar crews.

His men were still placing the sandbags when shelling from Pakistani side started again sending the men scurrying for cover. This time firing was much more intense and shells were landing all over the place. All out of ammunition, Indian artillery men on peak could only watch helplessly as they saw their comrades huddled in trenches and bunkers.

Subhranjan immediately grabbed the radio handset and requested fire support. By this time, Indians had managed to setup the fire locating radar and were analysing the flight path of shells to plot the exact location of Paki guns. “ Three minutes for fire support. Stand by.” came the answer on radio.
“We don't have three minutes. Hurry up ! Hurry up!” Subhranjan thought with quiet desperation as one shell landed very close to one machine gun bunker on northern side, damaging one of it's walls, but thankfully nobody was injured.
It seemed like hours but finally he heard the rumble of Indian guns as they fired after tracing Paki gun positions. Indian soldiers on hearing it cheered loudly in spite of being under fire themselves. But much to their disappointment and puzzlement, this time Pakis didn't stop their shelling, neither did they change their target. Another of Paki shells this time landed close to another bunker on eastern side, collapsing part of it's walls and roof, injuring the two soldiers inside. Havildar Hariom at once jumped out of his cover and started administering first aid to the wounded soldiers. Two other soldiers came to help and carried their wounded comrades to comparative safety away from the damaged bunker.

By this time, Indian guns were starting to find their mark and Pakis were forced to halt their fire and move their guns after suffering a few causalities themselves. This earned a few minutes of respite for beleaguered defenders, but they could nothing except shaking their heads to stop the buzzing in their ears. Indian artillery guns too stopped firing as they had no way of locating new position of Paki guns untill they started firing again.

“What's going on down there with Pakis ? Any luck ?” Subhranjan asked one of the soldiers keeping watch against Paki infantry attacks. Tearing his eyes off the night vision device he shook his head, “Can't see any movement. I'm not sure that they'll dare to launch another attack again after the beating they got. Can't see far enough anyway “

“I wouldn't count on that. Keep looking and don't let your guard down.” Subhranjan said and went off to check on wounded.

He found them lying in the bunker on almost other side of the peak which usually served as storage. Havildar Hariom was still bandaging one of them when he entered. “They are out of danger but none of them is in condition to fire a gun. Although I've done the best I could, they'll need to be evacuated soon.”

Subhranjan nodded, “ I understand. Reinforcements are on their way. They'll be here soon and we can evacuate them then.”

“They better hurry sir. I don't know whether we'll be able to survive another attack.”

“Keep faith HariOm.” Subhranjan smiled grimly and went out to check his defences again.

Loss of one bunker each on north and west side had weakened his position considerably against a determined infantry assault. He ordered one INSAS LMG to be taken out of the damaged bunker and placed in the trench covered by sandbags just beside it. He placed two more riflemen around it to prevent flanking attacks. His artillery crew too had picked up INSAS assault rifles and were acting as riflemen now. Indians were just beginning to settle in their defensive positions when Pakis started shelling again, this time from a different position. Indian artillery crews were even more quick this time to start the countering fire. Right about than, Indian guards noticed some movement on both sides of the slope and alerted Subhranjan. He relayed the coordinates of suspected enemy movement Indian artillery crews and they in turn let loose a volley of air-burst shells. These shells burst in mid-air and pepper their target below with red hot shrapnel.


Subhranjan wanted to use as much artillery support as possible before the enemy came too close for Indian artillery to target. By then, they'd come in range of Indian mortars but there was not enough ammunition left. There was another positive sighting of enemy troops, this time on northern side. One of the guns again changed it's target and this time fired on northern side. Pakistanis by this time had started to fire smoke rounds from their mortars to hide themselves. Even though it was not a foolproof solution against thermal detectors, it still gave them enough breathing space to hide their exact location. Taking cover behind large rocks and ledges Paki infantry started inching towards Indian position for the second time in two hours.
Subhranjan watched the developing situation with increasing concern. His first priority was to stop Paki mortars from coming within firing range. Although Indians had the advantage of increased range due to altitude advantage, there were not enough of them. Indian 155mm didn't have a good firing solution on the mountain slope. To make conditions worse, the enemy was hiding behind rocks, smoke and fog. Visibility was getting worse with every minute and soon his men would be unable to see anything without NV.

In pure desperation, he picked up his rifle and a binocular with thermal sights and asked Lance Naik Joginder to accompany him with radio. Right in front of his amazed soldiers and in face of artillery shells pounding all around them, the two men got out of the bunker and started running towards the advancing enemy. Using whatever cover they could find, the two men started moving cautiously downwards. Keeping his eyes glued to the thermal sight Subhranjan was in lead while the other man followed him. They advanced 10-12 metres after which they stopped and scanned the area around them for enemy and again repeated the process. They had traveled this way for little less than a km when Subhranjan observed a platoon of enemy soldiers racing upwards almost at the foothills of the mountain. He grabbed hold of the radio and relayed the enemy's coordinates to his mortar crews. Within seconds they responded with a volley of rounds that killed most of the enemy soldiers who were caught in the open.

Alerted by the attack, another group of enemy soldiers broke their cover behind which they were hiding and turned back. Subhranjan observed them fleeing and was tempted to drop a couple of mortar rounds on them but wisely restrained himself. “There must be more enemy around I should save for.” I told himself. Changing his direction towards another likely enemy approach place, he started scanning the area again. He again found some enemy soldiers advancing, but this time dispersed over a much larger area. He again relayed the coordinates to his mortar crews. Resulting fire was not enough to wipe out whole group. A few survivors took cover behind rocks in comparative safety. Somehow they managed to setup a mortar and started firing back. But the weapon was too short-legged to reach Indian positions.

“Yes. Keep wasting ammo firing at the enemy you can't even see, let alone reach. Bloody moron.” Subhranjan muttered.

“Good for us. Heh.” Joginer chipped in.

Probably drawn by the sound of their own men firing, the fleeing Paki group had turned back and started towards the lone Paki mortar firing at the Indians. Subhranjan waited for them to reach closer and ordered his men to fire again. This time, all the survivors from 2nd part were wiped out as one Indian mortar round landed right on top of the Paki position. Another round landed very close to their comrades group running towards them. Contrary to common sense, they were running in close to each other and only 2 men survived unhurt. Both of which immediately turned on their heels and ran back again.

“I wonder what will their CO say to that.“ Subhranjan quipped.

“Award a Hila-Le-Bakistan, maybe ? Joginder replied. Subhranjan could see his teeth in dark even without the night vision goggles as he grinned from ear to ear.

Excellent !!

Chapter 14


Subhranjan took the radio again and inquired about ammunition status. As he had guessed, there were only 2 mortar rounds left. He ordered all except one mortar crew to abandon their positions and take up defensive positions with rifles around the perimeter.

“What are we going to do sir ?” Joginder asked tentatively. He was impressed by the intelligence and bravery shown by the young, inexperienced Lt and his respect for him had grown manifold in the last hour.

“Well, we wait here as long it's needed.” Subhranjan replied scanning the slope in front of him.
“I wonder how long that'll be.” Joginder thought to himself but kept quiet.

As if guessing his question, Subhranjan added, “As soon as our reinforcements arrive or it becomes too dangerous for us to stay here.”


Lying prone on their stomachs, they waited for enemy to come again. By this time, artillery fire from Paki side had reduced considerably. Indian counter-artillery fire had crippled many of their guns and the surviving guns had to be moved around to prevent them from meeting the same fate. Still an odd shell continued to streak in, but without much accuracy.

Both men waiting on the slope prayed to be spared of a lucky strike. They were both lying almost in open with little to protect them if a shell landed anywhere near them. So far they had been lucky. They had been waiting for 20 minutes when Joginder thought that he saw some movement. He zoomed in as much as the sights allowed and sure enough there was a large formation of Paki soldiers moving towards their position. They had learnt from their mistakes and were spread over a large distance. He cursed them under his breath and handed over the night vision goggles to Subhranjan.
Although the enemy was out of range of Indian mortars, they could still be targeted by 155mm guns. He contacted Base 1 and asked for artillery fire. He knew he had to use up as much as support as possible before Paki soldiers came too close to be targeted by the big guns. Artillery crew took 2 minutes to adjust their targets and fired air-burst shells over coordinates provided by Subhranjan. Instead of taking cover or retreating, paki soldiers this time ran towards source of fire.
"I guess they know for sure that our big guns can't fire if they come closer." Joginder remarked .

"Yes. I hope that our artillery takes out most of them before they pass that point."

"Me too. Though fat chance of that happening"

Although they took some causalities, Paki soldiers sprinted fast enough to pass the kill zone with 5 minutes. Now defence of peak lay solely on shoulders of Indians manning the peak.

"What now sir ? Mortars ?" Joginder asked in a worried voice as he observed Pakis running up the slope from both faces. This time they were using cover much more effectively, dodging and sprinting between rocks and ledges making them a difficult target

"We don't have any other option left. I'll direct those last mortars on Pakis coming from east. Take positions towards towards left of this group and pick off as many of them as you can with your rifle. I'll do the same from here. Retreat to our post if they come too close or if they have a fix on your position."

“What about the other group on the north ?”

“I guess we'll have to deal with them later. Now hurry.”


Joginder nodded and crawled towards the place pointed out by Subhranjan. He took cover behind a group of rocks and waited. Subhranjan ordered his mortar crew to standby and be ready to fire on his mark. He too took up a firing position and waited till the Paki group came right where he wanted. When they reached there, he carefully took aim and fired. Although he missed hitting anyone, sound of the shot caused everyone in the group to duck and take cover. As soon as it happened he ordered his mortar crew to fire off last of their mortars which they did with deadly accuracy. Even with most of them hiding behind rocks and ledges, 2 high explosive mortar rounds killed 2 and injured another 3. Realising their folly, Pakis immediately got up and resumed their ascent again. Both Subharanjan and Joginder opened fire as soon as they got up causing much confusion in Paki ranks. At first no one realised where the fire was coming from and they started firing blindly but they soon got a fix on the position and started to return fire. But it was not before before they had lost another 3 men. At this time, Joginder noted another group of Paki soldiers moving coming towards their direction and he relayed the information to Subhranjan.


Both men stopped firing and started running back towards the relative safety of their post followed by Paki invaders almost snapping at their heels. They took cover inside a trench lined by sandbags and started updating rest of the defenders with whatever intelligence they had gathered about the attackers. Subhranjan ordered every man to take good cover and put his eyes on the gun sights. Nobody was to fire until the enemy was well within the range and devoid of any benefit of cover. Indian soldiers checked their weapons for one last time and braced for the attack.

Machine gun post on the east was first one to report a visual on approaching Pakis, but they were still too far to be targeted accurately. Just a minute later, another soldier who had taken cover besides the damaged bunker in north reported visual contact on his side. Pakistanis were trying to sneak up by hiding their approach with smoke grenades and were almost successful except for the fact that there were fair number of night vision devices with the defenders. Another proof of how close the enemy was came when one of the Paki soldiers fired a rifle grenade in general direction of the Indian post. The projectile fell well short of Indian position and exploded harmlessly. Although jittery and highly strung, Indian soldiers kept their nerve and held fire.

“Sneaky bas***** want a fix on our positions and arc of fire before committing to an attack. Pretty clever for a bunch of Pakis.” Joginder instructed rest of soldiers through the comm radio, “let them come closer. Hit them with all you've got when you can see their eyes. Don't Pakis bringing up the rear escape either.”

Another rifle grenade was fired which again failed to reach anywhere near the post. “Steady. Steady. Don't let these monkeys bother you like that.” he hissed again, waiting for Pakis to come closer. Fingers on triggers twitched nervously as the soldiers on both sides waited. Indian defenders had the advantage of higher positions and better cover while Pakistanis had numerical superiority. Both sides were trying to make the best of what they had and neither wanted to reveal it's cards too early. For Pakis, firing rifle grenades was a way to get a fix on Indian positions and once found then find a path to either bypass those positions or to neutralise them. But Indians had refused to oblige and now Pakistanis had no choice except an all out frontal attack.Causalities will be high but that was unavoidable anyway.


Indians defenders watched nervously as attackers rapidly started converging within their sights. Though owing to distance and low light they were nothing more than dark ghost like figures approaching silently. Within minutes they had moved in so close that their eyeballs would've been visible if there was light. Subhranjan decided it was time and he ordered his men to open fire. Within a moment the almost silent peak was covered with flashes and explosions of the gun fire. Pakistani soldiers in the lead had no chance to either duck or take cover and were cut down without even firing a single shot. Survivors immediately dropped to the ground and started firing back. Quite a lot of them who had neglected to take cover behind a rock or ledge were killed in the next volley. Even those defenders without night vision devices had no difficulty in getting a fix on position of the attackers due to their muzzle flashes and they were showing no mercy. They were firing on exposed attackers and lobbing grenades on those who had taken cover. But there were too many Pakis and too large an area for handful of defenders to cover.Even as the defenders concentrated on the east and northern ingress routes, a party of attackers started advancing through the middle.

bring us more....

Chapter 14 (Part 2)

A group of Paki soldiers escaped the notice of Indian defenders and snuck up through the middle face of the peak.Although one of the machine gun positions on the northern side saw them, they managed to scramble out of it's arc of fire without taking any causality. A 2 man team broke out from the group and started crawling towards the machine gun bunker from it's flank, intending to destroy it using grenades. Subhranjan saw one of them when he stood up and tried to throw a grenade. He at once shot the Paki who collapsed after getting hit by a 3 round burst. His companion however managed to throw a grenade towards Subhranjan before being shot himself. It landed just 2 feet from the trench where Subhranjan was and exploded before he could duck completely. Shrapnel from the grenade injured right side of his face and shoulder and the blast nearly deafened him. He collapsed on floor of the trench dazed, bleeding and and ears ringing. HariOm was on his side in an instant and started dressing his wounds.

“You have a nasty wound on your cheek. It'll need stitches.” He had to shout to make himself heard over the din of gunfire.

“That can wait.” Subhranjan managed to mumble but not without wincing in pain. “Where is my gun? “


Hariom was surprised, “Uh what? You are in no condition to fight. You need to get out of here.”

“Unfortunately these damned Pakis wouldn't let me. Will do anything you say once I see off these uninvited guests.”

He gingerly touched side of his face and winced with pain again when tried to lift his gun. Hariom looked on with concern, “Do you want a painkiller injection ?”

“Thanks, but I'll pass. Now go take care of other wounded.” Subhranjan replied as he tried to take stock of the situation again.

The Paki group that had manged to sneak in through the middle had taken cover behind a group of large rocks. One of the soldiers had an Under barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) on his AK-56 and was trying to fire on the machine gun bunker closest to him. Although the bunker had taken a direct hit, soldiers inside it had been unharmed. But their luck wouldn't hold on in case of another hit. Now, they were trying their best to keep that Paki from firing his UBGL again. Subhranjan realised what was going on and ordered one of his riflemen to move in closer to him. He saw the machine gun firing on the rocks behind which Pakis were hiding. After a few seconds machine gun had to stop firing for a magazine change. Pakis were waiting for just this kind break. As soon as the gun stopped firing, the Paki with UBGL popped out and tried to fire. But he had neglected to watch out for enemy outside the bunkers and paid the price with his life as soldier with Subhranjan shot his head off.

But their relief was short lived as another Paki soldier picked up that UBGL and managed to fire off one grenade on the bunker before being shot dead. Although the concrete bunker was too strong to be destroyed, it was damaged partially causing a blind spot in it's arc of fire. Surviving Paki soldiers took advantage and charged towards Indian positions on it's side that happened to be right where Subhranjan was. They charged towards the Indian trenches lobbing grenades and yelling loudly. This attracted attention of rest of the Indian riflemen who at once directed their fire towards the advancing group. In spite of the rain of bullets, two Paki soldiers managed to reach right up to the edge of trenches before being shot dead.

By this time another group of 9 Paki soldiers from the northern side had managed to avoid the bullets of Indian defenders and had take cover right where the earlier group had. Much to the surprise of Indians, this group too broke cover and started another charge at the Indian position. Even with the hail of bullets being fired on them, 3 of the charging Pakis survived and jumped in to the trench trying to engage the defenders in hand to hand fight inside. Two of them died without making any mark but one managed to fire off a burst from his AK-56 before being shot dead. One of the bullets hit Subhranjan in the right shoulder. He lost hold of the rifle and fell down writhing in pain. One Indian soldier immediately moved closer to him and put a bandage on his wound trying to stop the blood loss. Somebody had shouted for the medic and Hariom was there within moments. He took out a quick clot kit from his bag and poured the granular powder on the wound. Much to everybody's relief bleeding stopped within seconds and Hariom covered the wound with a bandage. Along with another soldier he started moving an almost unconscious Subhranjan to comparative safety of a bunker in the back.

As they gently set him down in the bunker along with other seriously wounded, Subhranjan regained consciousness and attempted to get up. Hariom stopped him and gently shook his head.
“What happened to you ? You're covered with blood !” Subhranjan exclaimed on seeing him.

“Well, it's not mine.” Hariom replied, trying to avoid looking him in the eyes.

“What ?”

“We lost 2 more men in last ten minutes. It's their blood.”

“Bloody hell! These mad Pakis will pay for this.” Subhranjan shouted with rage and tried to get up. But he stumbled and would have assuredly fallen on his face if Hariom had not caught him.

“ Do you want to kill yourself ? That bullet has shattered your collar bone and probably nicked a major artery. I've given you a painkiller, that's why you can't feel the pain. And after that shot, you're in no condition to fire a gun either.“ Hariom shouted sternly.

Feeling weak and delirious due to blood loss Subhranjan could do nothing but to let Hariom set him down. “But my men need me there” He whispered weakly.

“Sure they do, but they need you alive. You can go out to fight as soon as I feel you can. Till then, please lie down and try not to kill yourself. For your soldiers sake if not your own. Now, I have to go outside and see if anybody else needs my assistance. Don't move till I come back.” With this Hariom gathered up his medical kit and ran out of bunker towards the fighting line, leaving Subhranjan lying on his back with three other wounded men besides him.

Good going Jamwal sahab ...keep it coming!

Nice Jamwal...keep it up!

Chapter 15



Lying in the bunker, he nodded off listening to sounds of gunfire and explosions outside. He didn't knew how much time had passed since he had passed out. All he knew in his confused and drugged mind was that something had changed. Lying on his back as Hariom had left him, he tried to ascertain what had happened. It was not the pain which was nothing more than a throbbing dull ache that started from his injured shoulder and spread like waves through his body. He tried moving his arm but it was still immobile. He tried to sit up but was overcome by giddiness and immediately dropped back. Cursing the Paki soldier that had shot him he lie still for a moment. Then it hit him.
Firing had stopped !
The loud bangs of grenade explosions and bullets was now replaced by and the sounds of distant men talking amongst themselves. He strained his ears to listen but was unable to hear anything intelligible. What had happened while he had passed out ?
Had Indians beaten off the Paki attack ? If so, why no body had come to check on the injured ? He looked around to take stock of his surroundings. Only source of any light was a battery powered light lying on a box in the distant corner. By it's light he could make up the shapes of other injured soldiers lying besides him. All of them had received painkiller shots and were either unconscious or sleeping. There was nobody else.

What if Pakis had over run the post ? A cold shiver ran through his spine at the thought. That was entirely possible they way they were attacking and would have done so within minutes unless Indian reinforcements arrived. Even without knowing the time, he knew that reinforcements promised by Col. Saha should've been there by the time he was shot. Were they too late coming to aid of their comrades ?

His panicked thoughts were interrupted by sounds of footsteps coming towards the bunker. He propped himself on his uninjured arm and strained his ears to listen. By the sounds, he realised there were 3 men walking on the path outside the bunker and would be inside in a minute. A cold sweat broke over him. What if these men were Paki soldiers intent on killing the wounded ? Or worse capturing and then torturing. Pakis are not exactly famous for humane treatment of prisoners of war. Capture was going to be much worse than death. He tried to raise the soldier lying closest to him, but he had suffered a head wound and a broken arm and was administered a generous morphine shot. He didn't move a bit even when Subhranjan kicked him. By this time, sound of footsteps was even closer.

Swearing under his breath, he abandoned the idea of trying to wake up any other soldier and started looking for a weapon. Using all of his will power he forced himself to get up and walked unsteadily towards the pile of boxes near the light. He still couldn't move his injured right arm and opened the lid with his other hand. Instead of any weapon, the box contained rock climbing gear. Cursing his luck again, he attempted to open other box when somebody turned the door handle. For a moment Subhranjan froze to the spot, remembering that he had forgotten to lock the door from inside. Now nothing could stop them from getting in. In desperation he lunged to the box he had opened previously and grabbed a small rock climbing hammer lying inside and turned off the light plunging the bunker in complete darkness. He felt the hammer in his hands. It was barely 11 inches in length and weighed a kilogram at most. Now the door was opened and Subhranjan stuck himself to the wall besides it as it opened. A streak of light entered the bunker through open door and 3 men entered inside one by one. His heart wildly beating he raised the puny hammer in his left hand and waited. One of the three men lit a torch and started walking towards the injured Indians while the others stood back. Subhranjan slowly walked out from behind the door, his left hand raised and sneaked up to the backs of two men, intending to knock them down with the hammer. There was no way in hell he could be able to take them all but it was much better to die fighting than being captured alive by Pakis. He reached within an arms length of the the two men and steeled himself to strike. Just then, voice of a puzzled Hariom startled him, "Where the hell is Lt. ? I left him right here !."

jamwalji... Extremely unfair. You have left us hanging for more.

Recommend reading the account of the 1982 Falkland War from aboard the HMS BROADSWORD: The Gathering Storm

Some highlights:

Bomb Alley Day One 21st May


Bomb Alley Day Three 23rd May


Bomb Alley Fifth Day - Coventry 25th May


You can browse through the links to read from the beginning to the Argentinean Surrender.

That's really helpful rai sahab. Thanks

Chapter 15 (Part 2)

Waves of relief rolled down Subhranjan's body on hearing the medic's voice. He wanted to shout with joy, but could only manage a stifled croak, “Hariom ! Is that you? You frigging son of a bitch ! “

A startled Hariom moved the flashlight towards source of the voice and nearly screamed when he saw a wild faced Shubhranjan waving the hammer dangerously behind the other two soldiers. To his credit, he controlled himself and said in a comparatively calmer voice, “ Drop the hammer sir. It's us. We've beaten back the Pakis.”

Subhranjan dropped the hammer and promptly plumped down on his ass, “That I've managed to figure out myself.”

“Uh..then why this hammer sir” ? One of the soldiers that had come too close to getting his skull split at the hands of the Lt. Asked with some trepidation.

“Oh, that! I was just playing safe. Just in case.” Subhranjan managed this with a perfectly straight face. “Leave all this. Tell me what happened while I was here.”

“Reinforcements arrived within 5 minutes of me leaving you here. Subedar Major Salathia arrived just in nick of time with 20 men and kicked the hell out of enemy. We had to stop him from chasing fleeing Pakis down the mountain. You should've seen it from your own eyes. It was a sight to remember.” Hariom flashed one of his very rare grins.

“Where is he now ?”

“He is still outside, standing guard along with rest of men against a possible counter-attack. But I doubt it'll happen any time soon. Pakis have suffered too many causalities to mount another attack.”

“Did we lose any more of our men ?” Subhranjan asked with some disquiet.

“Thankfully no. Five more soldiers did suffer shrapnel and bullet wounds but none of them serious. Just the same, a Dhruv will arrive at dawn to evacuate the wounded and the dead. Additionally an UAV will be in air within 20 minutes. You can rest easy now.”

Subhranjan let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. Suddenly he started feeling too tired to even sit up and he lay down on his back thanking his stars.

Chapter 16


0900 Hours
29 October 2012
LMU News Broadcast


A bearded news reader was reading the news report, “Already strained relations between India and Pakistan worsened after Pakistani army started unprovoked firing on Indian positions on LoC in J&K yesterday. Additionally, Pakistani soldiers also attempted to wrest control of three Indian posts in Poonch and Kargil. Although they were beaten back with heavy losses, Indian army too suffered some causalities. Although officials declined to specify the exact number, according to sources Pakistan suffered 97 dead or seriously wounded while 17 Indian soldiers lost their lives. These skirmishes between the two nuclear armed neighbours couldn't have happened at a worse time. Pakistan is on verge of breakdown after a senior army general attempted a coup against serving army chief General Beg minutes after he had assumed Presidential powers. This came after a series of bombings all over Pakistan, one of which injured Pakistani President Naqvi and killed his son.

Ruling PPP to which Mr. Naqvi belongs however strongly protested General Beg's attempt to dismiss the civilian government. In a press conference, senior leaders strongly condemned General Beg's actions and vowed to launch a country wide protests against any move to undermine civilian rule. Former Prime Minister Wasim Akhtar, a bitter rival of Mr. Naqvi vowed to support PPP in it's campaign against General Beg, much to surprise of political pundits. Though most people seem to think that he is doing it to avoid anybody linking him to attack on Mr. Naqvi. General Beg on the other hand, has not appeared in public after a near fatal kidnapping attempt. All attempts to contact him have proved futile, although sources close to him assure that he is alive and well.

Governments from all over the world have urged both nuclear armed neighbours to act with restraint but their pleas seem to be falling on deaf ears, at least in Pakistan where nobody is clear about who is calling the shots. There seems to be a power vacuum at the present with too many people fighting amongst themselves to decide who wears the crown. To make matters even worse, various Islamist organisations, many of them linked to Al Qaida and Taliban have taken over control of numerous places including areas near Durand line and even small towns adjoining Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi. An alliance of Baloch nationalist parties and militia has declared a virtual war by laying siege to 2 army bases in Balochistan province and taking more than 900 Pakistani soldiers hostage. Lines outside airports and embassies of western countries like Canada, US are much longer and crowded than usual as more and more people are looking for a visa and the way out of this mess. At such a time these unprovoked attacks on India by Pakistani army seem nothing more than a ploy to distract the attention from real issues plaguing the country.

A press release from Pakistan home ministry however claimed that everything is in control and blamed India for adding oil to the fire of Pakistani troubles by first supporting insurgent movements inside Pakistan and then trying to grab Pakistani territory. Issuing a strong statement Pakistani officials claimed that the Pakistani citizens will defend the sovereignty of their country to the last of their breaths and will not bend over due to external pressure. They also appealed to concerned countries to help Pakistan in it's hour of need.
The release further added that all of Pakistani nuclear weapons and delivery platforms are in safe custody and accounted for. But many analysts fear that jihadis might already have taken control of a few nukes.

Indian defence minister in a press conference held last evening expressed the same apprehension and called for concerned people in Pakistan to find a peaceful way out of their predicament. He claimed that India will offer any amount of help in order to help Pakistan extricate out of this messy situation. He also denied that India was trying to take advantage of turmoil in Pakistan.

Even as we speak scale of firing has come down considerably. But small arms fire is still going on in 2-3 places.
Now we show you a video shot yesterday morning in Uri, Jammu where Pakistani army fired mortar and machine guns on an Indian army team which was trying to repair a breach in the fence. A well known TV journalist was right there shooting a documentary when the firing started. We have obtained the full length tape and will be showing it in entirety.”

He then added with only a slight hint of an ironic smile, “Viewers are warned that this video contains graphic language. Uhh and violence too. Some people might find it disturbing.”

Then they started running uncut video recorded by cameraman Sidhesh last morning at Point 711, Uri. Unlike the edited version shown on UNDE TV, LMU version showed everything starting from Varsha Butt's confused face as first mortar landed to her tantrums when Sub. Gurung was trying to stop her from killing herself. Lakhs of people saw it on TV and many more on YouTube and other online sources.

The bearded news reader thought with a quite smile, “ Say bye bye to your Pulitzer, Ms. Butt. You won't have it in this life at least“

Nice Touch,ironically prophetic.

Chapter 17


0145 Hours
30 October 2012
Pitampura, New Delhi


The white Qualis parked by the road side 3 men alighted. 2 of them were carrying small canvas bags much like the ones favoured by workmen. They were dressed in grey uniforms typical of many construction and utility companies that have sprung up all over the place. Third man was wearing a white shirt and pants and he looked and behaved like their senior. He was carrying nothing apart from a small notebook and a mobile phone. They opened the back of the car and started pulling out a small hoarding advertising a discount sale on Manik Jewellers.

"Hurry up. We have to finish the job before 2:30." The senior looking man barked.

The other two men were probably used to such talk. One of them shrugged but nevertheless both quickened their steps. In two trips they had carried and deposited all their stuff below the metro line passing above the road. It's pillars were nearly 9-10 meters high and constructed right in between the divider of the road. The pillar they were interested in was nearest to the traffic lights that controlled the traffic from 3 roads that converged there. The place had no official name but was informally known as Radio chowk due to the big radio tower nearby. During the day, it was bustling with thousands of people but there was nobody in sight at midnight.

After taking inventory of all the stuff, the man in white shirt let out a satisfied grunt and asked the other two to begin their work. They opened their bags and started taking out their tools. One placed a small folding ladder near the pillar and climbed on it . Taking out a measuring tape and a small piece of chalk he started making marks on the pillar with help of the other 2 men. After the markings were made, he took out a portable drill and started drilling holes in the pillar. He was still in the middle of drilling his second hole when they were interrupted by the irritated voice of a beat constable.

"What the hell you guys are doing ?" Loud voice of the constable so startled him that he almost dropped the drill on the head of his mate standing below. The drill was a comparatively silent type but the sound carried far at that deserted hour. The policeman had walked in completely unnoticed, his footfalls masked by the sound of the drill.

White shirt guy barked at him to stop and strode towards the cop with a big smile pasted on his face. " Good evening sir." We're from NewWays Enterprises." Motioning towards the hoarding he said, We need to put up that hoardings on metro pillars."

"At this time ? Couldn't you do it during day time ?" Cop asked while nudging their wares with his stick.

"We had instructions for night time only. " white shirt replied without allowing any change in his smile,

"Really ? Who gave you these instructions ? "

"uh..our boss did. Mr. Nehra is his name. "

"Do you have permission from government agencies ? You can't put up advertisements on government properties just like that. Where are the official letters ?" he demanded.

"We have that too sir. In the car. I'll show you. " Saying this, he turned and started walking towards the car with cop ambling after him. He opened the car door and rummaged amongst papers littering the dashboard. After making a show of it for some time he emerged triumphantly waving a sheet of paper.

"Here it is. Letter from NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council)."

Policeman took it from him and read through it absently. Handing the paper back, "But this is from NDMC and the pillar you are hanging your stuff belongs to Delhi Metro. You can't do anything without their approval."

"I'm sure Delhi Metro has approved it. Our boss wouldn't have sent us otherwise." white shirt stammered uneasily.

Policeman snapped, "I really don't care about your boss or his instructions.. If you are going to hang this hoarding on that pillar you need.."
Rest of the sentence was left unfinished as the policeman dropped unceremoniously to the ground. One of the 2 uniformed guys had sneaked up behind him and hit him on the head with a hammer. He watched with cold impassive eyes as blood started to spread around the fallen constable's head.

White shirt looked at him with a some surprise but quickly composed himself, "Good work."

2nd uniform had walked in close by then and he too was staring at the blood. In a voice barely audible he asked "Is he dead ?"

White shirt crouched and felt the neck of policeman "I can't find pulse. Must be dead or would die within minutes. Now lets carry this body and dump it in that under construction house over there. It's full of rubble, nobody will find him before morning. Hurry up before anybody sees us."

3 of them quickly lifted limp body of the cop and hid him behind a mound of dirt. All then sprinted to the pillar and resumed their work feverishly. "You two finish drilling the holes. I'll finish connected the electrical stuff by then. Hurry up. We've got to catch the train at 3:00. No time to waste. That moron cop could've messed up everything"

Working quickly they fitted the hoarding and packed up their tools before 2:30. "Everything finished ?" White shirt asked glancing at both men in turn. Both nodded yes. "Let's go then. Change you clothes in the car. Train leaves in half an hour."

Picking up their belongings they quickly threw everything inside the Qualis and drove away towards Old Delhi railway station. They changed in to new clothes while on the road and threw old clothes and their tool bags in an sewage gutter in the way. They parked their car a few 100 meters away from the station and caught the train to Gorakhpur near Nepal border, They were out of New Delhi before 04:00 am.

The IA should install flame throwers on all of its posts for close quarter battle - should do wonders to Paki morale while attacking

great going..
but i do have a bad feeling about the metro..

highlights the need to train the police and other agencies better. this is quite real. keep it up.

Chapter 18

0715 Hours
30 October 2012
Pitampura Police Station
New Delhi


Head constable Shashi Tamar was warming up his morning cup of tea in an ancient kettle when constable Shubhash came running through the door. "What happened ? Some mad dogs chasing after you ?" A bleary eyed Shashi asked with with mild irritation at being disturbed so rudely.

"Leave all doggy thing aside sir. Take the keys of Gypsy. We have to go to hospital." Subhash answered breathlessly.

Suddenly alarmed at the mention of hospital Shashi asked "Why ? What happened ?"

"Somebody whacked Bhushan last night when he was on duty. Some labourers found him in that under construction building near Radio chowk. Now hurry. It looks serious."

All thoughts of his morning tea and traces of sleep washed away from his head, Shashi jumped to his feet and reached for the keys , "Bh******! Is he alive? "

"Barely. He has a fractured skull and lost too much blood. "

"Ma ** ***** whoever did this! Do you know who did this ?" Shashi asked as he asked another policeman to take his place and started running towards the Gypsy parked outside station.

"How'd I know ? Let's get to hospital first and hope he can answer the questions. " Subhash replied with no less irritation.

Traffic was still very light and they reached hospital within 10 minutes. A familiar hospital orderly met them in the ward and informed that Bhushan had been taken in for surgery. Swearing again Shashi asked, "Did he say anything while he was conscious ? "

"He was unconscious all the time he was here except for 1-2 minutes. I was there then but couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying."

Shashi snapped, " I don't want YOU to make sense of what he said. Just tell me whatever you could hear."

Slightly taken aback at the outburst orderly looked at the policeman with reproachful eyes before continuing, "Uh..all I could make out was something that sounded like khamba, (pole). He just repeated khamba khamba. Khambe par .. (On pole) "

"What ? A pole fell on him or what ? " Subhash exclaimed.

"No. It can't be a pole. The injury was on side of his head and looked like somebody hit him with some heavy thing. A hammer or a stone maybe." Orderly replied, feeling slightly important.

"Was he robbed ? "

"No. He still had his wallet and mobile phone. "

"Hmm! How long will this surgery take ?"

"I don't know for sure. 35-40 minutes if there are no complications. But you can't talk to him anytime soon. "

Shashi turned towards Subhash, "Inform SHO sahab and come with me to Radio chowk. We might find something or someone useful there."

"Leave him alone here ?" Subhash asked with horrified surprise.

"I'm calling station. They'll send somebody and inform his family." Pointing towards the orderly he continued, "He'll take care of him till anybody arrives. Wouldn't you ?"

Slightly taken off balance orderly replied, "Of course. Of course. That's what I do anyway."

"Good. Come with me right now Subhash. There's no time to waste. "

Leaving the slightly confused orderly behind they ran to their jeep and started driving towards Radio chowk.

Traffic was getting heavy due to morning rush. Even then they managed to travel with a high speed. Soon the radio station, made conspicuous by it's tower was within their sights, although it was still 200 meters away.
"Almost there." Subhash mumbled as Shashi prepared to take a turn towards the road that proceeded to Radio chowk. He was turning the Gypsy when their ear drums were assaulted by the sound of a massive blast. Shashi was so startled that he almost lost control of the vehicle but managed to apply the brakes before anything happened. A column of black smoke arose from the general direction of traffic lights steadily growing in size along with shouts and screams of people.

"What the hell was that ? " Subhash asked in a panicked voice.

"What does it seem to you moron. Some ma******* bomb blast is that what happened ! Call HQ immediately. " Shashi shouted at the constable.

Within moments they reached the sight of the blast and what they saw made them freeze in their strides. The blast was so powerful that more than 2 meters thick pillar for metro line was nothing except for a small smoking stub of concrete poking from the ground. The 2 beams supported by the pillar had collapsed, forming a rough V. The 10000 Volt power lines had also snapped and were hanging precariously just 4 feet off the ground. A jam packed bus had taken the brunt of the blast as it waited adjacent to the pillar for green light. All the windows of bus were broken, it's roof all but torn off and bodies of dead and injured passengers hung limply. A few cars and two-wheelers had also suffered and were on fire.

But the thing that scared the hell out of everybody was not on ground, but above it. A speeding metro train had left the adjacent metro station and was coming right towards the damaged portion. Although it had lost all power due to damage to the power line, it still had sufficient momentum. Driver of the train had applied emergency brakes and sparks were flying off the metallic wheels. Standing on the ground, people could see the confused faces of passengers inside the train through the glass windows.

Shashi knew that the train had no chance of stopping before and wanted to avoid seeing the tragedy as it occurred. In spite of all his best efforts he couldn't tear his eyes off the horror before him. Right before his unwilling eyes, train reached site of the breach well in speed well above 25 kmph and plunged in to the gap. It's first bogey sailed through the gap for a while and hit the collapsed beam face first. That bogey was compressed to less than half of it's original size as rest of the bogeys crushed it from behind. Nobody could hear anything apart from deafening screeching of metal and horrified and painful screams of passengers in the train and the bystanders. But the ordeal was far from over. The train started to list on it's side and inch by inch started to slide towards the ground below. Then all of a sudden something that was holding the train on track gave away and all 4 bogeys fell on road below with a huge crash. A number of already damaged vehicles made immobile after the blast were crushed as the train fell on top of them.

Evening news listed 145 people dead and more than 14 injured, many of them in serious condition.

Condolences and calls for restraint from governments all over the world were still coming in when Mumbai and Hyderabd too were rocked by powerful blasts that killed 109 people combined

Constable Bhushan regained consciousness next morning and easily identified one of the suspects from file photos. The man's name was Mohammed Nazir, a long time member of SIMI. He was last seen at Nepal airport catching a flight to Dubai on a Pakistani passport. There were no leads to other blasts though.

Time to make these terrorist ma******** meet their 72.

Chapter 19


0830 Hours IST
30 October 2010
PPC World News Broadcast


In a surprising development in Pakistan, General Beg a few minutes ago appeared on Pakistan TV and radio claiming that he had quelled the rebellion by some of his subordinates that had threatened to shove his nuclear armed nation in to a bloody and very dangerous civil war. Reading from a prepared statement he said that most of the rebel officers led by General Asgar have either been killed or arrested facing further trial. He assured everybody that things are under his complete control and urged everybody to get on with their lives as usual.

But international observers are far from convinced. Pointing out to the still raging battles inside major Pakistani cities, they say that General Beg's claims of quelling the revolt are far from true. His opponent, General Asgar has powerful allies both within and outside Pakistan and forces loyal to him still control coastal city of Karachi and parts of disputed region of Jammu & Kashmir. Further, many influential Islamist groups based in Pakistan have come out openly in support of General Asgar, mainly to show their disapproval of what they say General Beg's sucking up to USA for money. Two of these groups have taken over the the controls of civil administration in Peshawar, Malakand and Quetta
General Beg not only has to control his nation's armed forces but also these powerful Islamist groups that threaten his grip on power more than anything. These group hold just more than significant influence on Pakistani civilians as well as serving and retired defence personnel. Therefore earning their support is going to be vital if he wants to consolidate his position.
How he manages to gather their support without antagonising his western allies is a matter of debate itself. Regarding this matter, no less importance should be attached to Indian reaction. It becomes still more important right now as it suffered 3 deadly terrorist attacks in a single day killing nearly 300 people, allegedly by Islamic terrorists supported by the very same groups that Beg needs to appease.

This news broadcast is brought to you by PPC International. Please stay tuned for more

Chapter 20


1815 Hours
1st November 2012
Mirawi, Rajsthan




Mirawi was a small town around 70 km south-west of Bamer and 40 Km from border. Until 2009 it was just an ordinary small town when Indian Army decided to base one regiment of it's latest T-90 Bhishma tanks there. For this purpose army acquired 1100 acres of land and started construction of whole tank related infrastructure there.
With efficiency typical to armed forces, the base was up and fully functional by late March 2010. The base now boasted of one of the largest workshops for tank repair and maintenance in Western command. A part of acquired land served as training ground for the tank crews .Although not as big as Pokhran, it was an ideal place to train the tank crews on desert warfare.

It was not officially stated, that tank regiment formed one of the most vital parts of much discussed Indian Cold Start doctrine. As such no effort was spared in order to keep the base as well supplied as possible. Existing highway was widened to 4 lanes and strengthened and an extra railway line was laid down apart from the existing one .

It's effect on town was largely positive. Within 2 years the town's civilian population had jumped from less than 50000 to 58000 thousand, most of it due to people from surrounding areas moving in to takeadvantage of the money being pumped in to local economy by increased army presence. A lot of these new migrants were civilian contractors, suppliers and labourers who set up their shops there.

Tushar Aggarwal was one of such contractors who had shifted his business from Jaipur to Mirawi. He had realised the significance of army raising a brand new tank base and had opened an office in Mirawi in December 2009 itself, much before other people had the sense to do so. His business flourished due to his early bird advantage and soon his earnings from his new office eclipsed what he had been earning in Jaipur. Assigning one of his employees to take care of his Jaipur office, he moved in to Mirawi along with his family which consisted of his wife of 11 years, Sushmita and their 8 years old son Krishna. They rented a small house with a big yard about a Km from the army base.
His business was growing steadily and family had taken well to the new town. Specially Krishna who had never seen military life from so close. He had been granted admission in the local Army School and had made a lot of new friends. Their class had been taken on tours of the new base and given a ride on one of brand new tanks. Ever since his visit he had been obsessed with tanks and had been begging his father to get him one too. His mother managed to placate him by buying him a toy tank much smaller in size and the one which fired up a small light in it's gun instead of a high explosive shell.


Although not quite as good, he had satisfied himself wih his 'tank' and was playing with it in their yard with some kids from their neighbourhood. His tank had a good aim and had 'destoyed' a car and aLego brick castle of his two playmates. Slightly miffed, both had packed up their own toys and left for the night. He played alone for a while after they left until it started getting too dark. He too picked up his tank and proceeded to go back inside the house when he heard the sound of an army convoy passing on the road. He rushed back to the main gate and peeked outside at the procession of T-90s being transported on their carrier vehicles. He opened the gate and stepped outside, watching excitedly as the massive trucks rolled by one by one in front of his eyes. He waved his hand with much enthusiasm and some of the soldiers smiled and waved back. He kept watching as the last truck drove away from his sight. Smiling contently he put his tank on the ground and started to steer it towards the door of his house.

His attention was diverted by sudden wailing of the air raid siren. He stood up to attention slightly puzzled listening to the oddly discomforting sound. He had heard this sound only once before in the school. The teacher had told them to at once ask the nearest grown up for help and take shelter on hearing this sound. But what could actually go wrong. He was perfectly safe in his own house. His chain of thoughts was interrupted by the band of screen door of their house as his mother rushed out looking for him. Seeing him standing right outside, the troubled expression on her face slightly receded. Standing at the door step, she asked him to come inside the house at once.

Krishna need not to be told twice. He picked up his toy tank and started running towards his mother. All of a sudden, the dusky evening was penetrated by a bright flash of intense light as if another sun had risen up in the sky. He put up his hand to shield his eyes and tried to squint through the gap when he felt an earthquake shaking everything around him. He then felt as if a wall of fire had hit him and he fell down screaming with pain and pure terror. He cried for his mother who unfortunately for both, was in a similar situation and could do nothing to help. Moments later, their burning bodies were crushed under the rubble of their two storied brick house as it collapsed when a tremendous shock wave hit it.

WOW
This story has more turns then the Lombard Street.

BTW, the ending in the last post was a shocker!! Never ever expected it.

wow... A pre-emptive nuclear strike on a civilian town????

i hope its not nuclear... as then story will end soon we just need to launch all nuclear salvo towards pak and contribute towards Gloabl Warming....

Great post, great storyline. It is as good as any western fiction. But it is much more interesting as it based on indian platform. Keep going.

Oh its tactical nuclear strike on a Tank town ( more inclined towards rogue and purer elements of pakistan) ( Jamwal , are you sure it had population of 58000 thousand). DO you think their nukes have fallen into rogue hands or Chinese directing asgar to play his desperate hand or asgar desperate and acting on his own.
With Pak in turmoil anything is possible.

Living Indian Nightmare. Bloody hell.

Lets see what we come up with.

The town is fictional but the possibility of a similar place existing and the risk of strike is quite real IMHO. Regarding rest, please wait. Still tying up some of the loose ends.

@Jamwal--

This is turning out quite to be shockingly well done old chap. Looking forward to more.

Chapter 21

2120 Hours
1 November 2012
India


Scheduled TV programming was interrupted on almost all TV channels as the ashen face of Defence Minister appeared on the screens. He started reading from a prepared speech,

"My dear countrymen, I'm here with a bad news for all of us. Today we came under a surprise nuclear attack. Mirwai, a small town in Rajsthan with nearly 55000 population was devastated by a nuclear bomb delivered through a missile. The attack happened at 6 pm today without any warning. Although the missile was launched from Pakistan, a military spokesperson speaking on behalf of the Pakistani authorities has denied that they were involved. I can't tell you the exact figures right now, but more than 20000 people are believed to be dead and many more injured. We are doing everything we can do to help the stricken people. Even as I speak, supplies and relief material are being rushed with utmost speed. Indian army which operates a small base there and Air force, have pressed in all of their resources to help the survivors in every way possible.

As of now, no one has taken any responsibility for this dastardly attack, but I'd like to assure all of you that whoever did this will dearly pay for this crime against humanity. Our forces are now on the highest alert and are taking every action to identify the culprits and also to prevent any further attacks. Our chain of command and most importantly, will to fight are still intact and will remain so.

Our country needs help of every single citizen in these troubled times. Irrespective of our differences, every single one of us needs to support the government and armed forces. I appeal to all of you to remain calm and follow the instructions provided to you by local authorities. Please do not panic or try to relocate unless absolutely necessary. The government will take whatever steps are necessary to protect everyone.

Jai Hind"


Cameraman signaled end of transmission and DM slumped limply in to the chair. He ran his hands through his thinning hair twice and got up to his feet. His aide came up a cup of tea which he waved away. He was in no mood to eat or drink anything.
He opened the small door of the media room and started walking towards the PM's cabin in the special Boeing 747 informally known as AF1. PM and DM along with some senior defence and civilian officials had been bundled in to the special plane within 20 minutes of the time when first warning of the missile attack came. An IL-76 based AWACS on a patrol over Rajsthan had first detected the missile as it's reached it's terminal stage. The crew had immediately sent warnings, but it was not enough to help Mirwai. There was little any one could do anyway .

DM was visiting PM at his residence when their bodyguards burst in to the room and bundled them off in to a chopper and then to AF1 with little ceremony. Much to consternation of every one, PM had suffered severe chest pain moments after plane was airborne. On board doctor, a middle aged Air Force Major Rudra had treated him and put him under observation. News of the country's PM collapsing on hearing such news, even of this magnitude would've been really bad for morale. So it was DM who had to go on TV instead of PM to read the bad news. He had done so with much reluctance but had kept the fact to himself only. He walked slowly towards the PM's cabin and stopped in front of the door, apparently lost in thought. Two guards on the door smartly saluted him and that caused DM to come out of his reverie.
"I wish you guys stop doing this every time you see me. " he smiled tiredly at the young soldiers.

"I'll keep it in mind from now on sir." Older of them smiled back politely.

"Thanks. Is doctor still inside ? How is PM feeling now ?" DM asked.

"Yes sir. Mr. PM wanted to see you as soon as possible. He is waiting for you." with this, he knocked on the door once and on hearing the permission to enter, opened the door and ushered the DM in.


PM was lying on a bed apparently sleeping while his wife and Maj Rudra were sitting on chairs besides him talking in low voices. Both stopped talking on seeing him and Maj Rudra got up to salute him. PM opened his eyes and looked at him with resigned eyes.

"How are you feeling now sir ?" Suddenly not sure whom to ask this question, DM asked with a slight hesitation.

"Much better. Thanks to Dr. Rudra here. " PM replied looking at the doctor who looked on impassively. "Any new developments ?"

"A little. Some of our people are standing by on a video conferencing call. Are you feeling well enough for this ?" DM asked with some concern looking at PM and the doctor in turn.

"Sure. Lets begin right now." PM replied with some display of energy.

DM gave the doctor a questioning glance to which he replied, " Yes of course, he can do anything he wants short of strenuous physical activity right now. But please be sure that he doesn't get too stressed. My work here is done anyway. I'll pop in from time to time to keep an eye. I think I should leave, if I have your permission."

He gave everybody in the room a quick bow and left. PM's wife also left the room after instructing both men to be careful about her husband's health.
PM watched her close the door with a tired smile and then turned to DM, "So, what did you find out ?"

DM in the meanwhile had called for some senior officers and analysts on board the plane to enter the room and had turned on the video conferencing screen for other people to join in. Faces of people, some old and most of them new to both the ministers filled the room. After hurried introductions, everybody quickly got to the business. Chief spook Angad was first to begin via a video link,

“The missile was launched from a location somewhere east of Karachi. Our analysts believe that it was a Shaheen, just a repainted Chinese M-9. The bomb was Uranium 235 based with yield of slightly less than 20KT . It's copy of an old Soviet design that was stolen by China. Apparently they also sold the same design to Pakistan and North Korea. The missile has a possible range of less than 700km with this kind of warhead. If anybody is wondering why didn't they try hitting New Delhi, Bombay or any other big city, then I assume it's because of Shaheen's limited range only. Mirwai is one of the very few possible places that can be hit with that missile when fired from that distance.

"Do we know who actually launched it ?"

"Unfortunately, not yet. Control of Pakistani nuclear arsenal was supposed to be with General Beg only. But the missile was launched from the area under control of General Asgar." Angad answered.

DM jumped off his seat and begin in an excited voice, "That can mean only one thing. If General Beg had full control of every weapon, then it's entirely possible that he had launched the missile. That way he can injure us as well as gather support for his fight against Asgar." He started pacing the small room as he spoke then his voice trailed off, "But.."

Curious at his behaviour, PM asked "What ?"

DM shook his head slightly and said, "Same thing can be said about General Asgar too. He too is a prime suspect just as Beg is. If he proves that it was Beg, not him that launched the missile then Beg is screwed beyond redemption. Even him being the American poodle wouldn't help him then."

HM butted in before DM had chance to finish, "Screwed how ? Pakistanis have already started celebrating this strike against the kafir Hindu India. In my opinion,the culprit will gain support of Islamists and gain power, not get screwed as you said it."

DM gestured defensively, "Hey, I'm just thinking aloud. Either way, you can't have everything. You win some, you lose some. For either of them, there are going to be benefits as well as repercussions. The perpetrator took his chances and I'll be damned if I know who did this just by talking and guessing like this. "

PM who had been listening quietly asked, "If it's like what you people are saying, don't you think that either of them will try to take the credit ?"

On the screen, HM just stared blankly while DM shrugged his shoulders trying to think of something. "Could be terrorists." he added.

Angad cleared his throat and said, "True. But they would've taken the responsibility as soon as it had happened. Not a single one of the rag head terrorists out there is going to miss an opportunity like this. Strangely, no one has. But most importantly, an attack like this is beyond he capability of almost all of terrorist groups out there. There is no way that a bunch of terrorists could have pulled this off without Paki army help."

"What about a rogue military commander acting independent of every one else ? DM asked

General Vaidya, a 3 star general replied, "Same as with terrorists. Possible, but highly unlikely without either of the two Generals knowing."

For a few seconds, everybody involved in the meeting fell quiet having reached a dead end. Then voice of PM broke the silence, "Excuse me for the silly question, but didn't Beg had full control of all the nukes ? Then how can Asgar be possibly involved in this ?

"He could've taken the control of one or two missiles that Americans didn't knew about." HM took the bait.

DM was quick to pounce on it, "And launched it on us without trying to take any advantage ? If he really had those nukes then he could have bargained with Beg and Americans for anything. This doesn't makes any sense."

HM challenged him, "Well, tell me one thing that does."

DM shrugged and slumped back in chair, " I don't know."

Angad looked slightly uneasy on the screen“ I don't know if it seems important, but Gwadar is not too far away from the launch site. For what it is worth, Chinese seem to be awfully busy lately there. Far more than what seems normal.”

“Busy ? How ?” DM asked.


“According to our intelligence reports, number of ships docking there has increased by 15% during the last 3 weeks. Of course it could all be unrelated, but somehow I can't shake off the feeling that something fishy is going on.”


“You don't have details ? It's your job to get this kind of information. We can't do a single damn thing based on your hunches only.”

Angad took the remark as the unneeded insult as it was. He was still bitter over the fact that his proposals for more intelligence satellites and human intelligence had been gathering dust for years now, “ What else would you expect on the money that we actually spend on intelligence ? “

DM let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. But he knew that Angad was right. Intelligence organisations had been demanding higher budgets and more freedom from political intervention for years, but successive governments including the present had been dithering on many important proposals. Who knew this attack could've been avoided if they had advance warning.

jamwal ji - its awesome sir... instead of boiling his blood; PM is having a heart pain... pity !!

Chapter 21 (Part 2)



HM piped in, “Please leave all that for the moment. What's done is done. We have to do something right now. We can't just sit here and yap away. Thousands of our people have died in 4 attacks, one of them a nuclear one. All in a single damned day. Nations have gone to war on much less. Why are we still not bombing the hell out of those terrorist pigs ? The missile was launched from Paki territory, it's a Paki missile as well a a Paki bomb. What other proof do we need ?“

“For starters, identifying who actually gave the orders.” DM replied.

HM opened his mouth to say something but then kept quiet. With the condition Pakistan was in, nobody had any idea whom to punish. In frustration he banged his fist on the table and groaned loudly, “Damn it all. I say we launch everything we have on those bast**** and be done with it. Do you realise how bad it is going to be for our economy, or prestige, everything that's precious to us ? We lose the confidence of everyone in the world and our own citizens. We get nuked in broad daylight and can do nothing except twiddling our thumbs inside our collective asses. “

General Vaidya cleared his throat and begin, “ We can take steps to neutralize their remaining weapons.. Actually it's going to be suicidal if we don't. We just need your permission to do so.” He finished looking at PM directly who appeared to be lost under deep thought.

He took a deep breath and replied, “I'm afraid that I can't allow that without positive proof General. We need concrete evidence of who actually did it.”

Most of the people presented in the meeting groaned inwardly.

There was a knock on the door and Dr. Rudra asked for permission to enter. DM broke up the conference for a while and called him in. Doctor entered the cabin glancing at the video screens once and then faced the PM, “Sorry to interrupt the meeting, but some more medical tests are needed and I can't do that on this plane. I'm afraid that we'll have to get you to a hospital.”

Both ministers were slightly taken aback and PM asked with surprise in his voice, “But why ? I feel absolutely fine.”

The doctor had heard this line many times. He replied impassively, “May be you do, but you heart doesn't. I believe that one of your arteries has some degree of blockage. We need to get you to a hospital without any delay.”

“I'll be damned. Just what the doctor ordered.” DM thought to himself. Then asked, “Where can we take him ?”

“I checked with the pilots. Agra is the nearest place with sufficient medical equipment.”

“You came in all prepared, didn't you ?” PM asked with a slight resentment. But I can't go to any hospital right now. Our country is at war right now. “

DM's eyes widened a little at this, “Good to know that he realises this.” While the PM continued to argue with Dr. Rudra who kept shaking his head like a stubborn mule on every argument that PM put forward. Finally he said, “Sir, I don't have the authority to make you do anything. But as your doctor I strongly advise you to get yourselves examined in a hospital. We may not need to operate yet. If everything is right, you can still be in action. The tests wouldn't take longer than five hours.”

Pm looked towards DM with exasperated eyes. “Do you believe him” ?

“There is no harm in getting you examined on ground. I'd rather do it as soon as possible.”

“Ah well. What the hell ! OK doc. Five hours on ground. That's the maximum I'm giving you.”

Doctor smiled slightly, Thank you sir. I'd better control my temper if I were you in this condition.” He gave a slight bow and went out.

DM looked at the departing doctor with arched eyebrows then said, “Looks like we'll have to break up the meeting for a while.” PM started to protest but he went on regardless, “It'll give our guys time to gather more intelligence. Not too bad of an idea after all. What's your opinion General Vaidya ?”

“Agree completely. I'll go and check security arrangements.”

Chapter 22

2130 Hours
1 November 2012
Udyog Bhawan
Kolkata, India


The 3 story inconspicuous Udyog Bhawan in Kolkata was completely unimportant to everybody except for the RAW and ARC people who worked there. GP, Deputy Director NTRO was going over the latest satellite images and intelligence reports gathered over the day when the red phone on his table rang. He felt a irrational fear creeping up his gut as he looked at the instrument. The news of the nuke attack had came via this phone minutes after it happened. It was going to be be quite some time before he could go back to answering the calls on this secure line normally again. Nevertheless he let go of the pictures and lifted the phone. “GP here.”

“How're you doing GP ?”

The subdued voice of Meir, Directorof Mossad's Research Department felt felt a lot different from it's usually cheerful tone. “What do you think old friend ? This hasn't been exactly a good day.”
GP heard Meir sigh on other end of the line, “I'm really sorry for what happened today GP. I wish that whoever did this must rot in hell for all the eternity.“

Was Yaron trying to pry some information out ? Although India and Israel were allies and the two intelligence officers good friends, but intelligence business is unlike all others. Countries spy on enemies as well as their allies alike. GP let out a bitter chuckle, “Only if wishes were horses.”

Meir replied in a mysterious voice, “But I do have something for you to ride upon.”

GP's ears perked up a little. “ Do I need to pay rent for the ride ?”

Meir chuckled, “Well, if you insist. How about a bottle of scotch and a fried fish from your kitchen next time we meet ? “

GP was mystified, “ That'll be my pleasure. You, of all the people should know that.”

“That I know very well my friend. The thing is that you guys have already done us a favour. We are just returning it.”

“Suits me.”

Meir turned serious, “You remember the small payload that your ISRO launched for us in April ? “

A bulb just clicked on in GP's mind. PSLV launch that month had carried a satellite designed and made by Israelis in complete secrecy. It's capabilities and applications were a well guarded secret. Apart from a select group of people that included the satellite's designers and some in intelligence circles, nobody had any idea. GP replied in a slightly reproachful tone, “Yes I do. You guys have been awfully shy with that one. “

“ It's time that we let this complain sorted out. Can you check the mail ? There is a surprise for you. Please let me know if you like it.”

GP was suddenly inpatient, “What is it ? “

“What else it could be GP ? We deal in information and information it is. I hope you keep your end of bargain when we meet again. Till then, take care and Namaskar.”

“Shalom friend”.

Gp replaced the phone on it's cradle and opened his secure mailbox. A mail with blank message body and an encrypted attachment had just arrived.. He put in the decryption key and extracted the files. There was a small text file and a bunch of high resolution satellite images. He opened the text file first and read it through. With mounting excitement he clicked on the images and started browsing through them. It was with a shaking hand that he picked up the intercom and called for his best analysts to come in to his cabin.

come jamwal... bring us more....

I've been following you writing from the start... and i must say 'awesome job man'...
i just registered on the forums to say thanks!

Wow! Man.....awesome job.....too good to resist now!..

yeh dil mange more

Great going. Ever rising on brf popularity chart. You are second to none. Jamwal , my congrats on tight story line.

Sir. I dont know wether GP will keep his end of bargain with Meir or not. But surely I will be more than happy to share a drink or 2 with you, next time i am in India.
Jai ho..

Thanks for the kind words everybody. Much appreciated

I think the word 'story' should be removed from the title of the thread so far as it relates to Nukes ... It actually depicts a very realistic scene of our political leaders not having spine to revert with nukes.... Very realistic... Forget NFU, we might not even authorize retaliatory strike...

jamwal sir - time for todays installment...? please give us a long one...

there are a few mistakes in previos post. Mixed up ARC and NTRO. Should've been ARC. and a few grammatical mistakes. Can't edit them now.
Anyhow. posing next chapter in a few minutes.

strangely critics on BR didn't picked and mentioned it... now thats a Life saver jamwal sir...

Chapter 23

2310 Hours
1 November 2012
Udyog Bhavan
Kolkata


“Are you fuc*** kidding me GP ? “ Angad never swore and bit his tongue as soon as he realised that he just did. “Sorry for that. But are you really sure about this ? “

“There is no doubt sir. Take a look at the pictures that I've sent you. I've marked everything of interest.” GP was unnaturally calm about the whole issue

“I'm looking at them right now. But have you confirmed it from our side too ?” Angad asked with ever increasing excitement.

“Checked, double checked and checked again sir. Do you want me to explain ? “

“Wait for a moment. Let me get some military people on the line. ” Angad replied hurriedly and went offline to arrange a video conference. He was done within five minutes slightly out of breath. “ You still there GP ? I've called for General Vaidya, Air Marshal Nirmal Jeet and Rear Admiral Kailash Nath They have those pictures too. Now start explaining.”

GP was ready, “The pictures marked 1 to 21 were taken by Israeli satellites over the span of last 3 weeks. The rest are ours. I'll begin with Israeli ones. Picture one is of a Chinese missile manufacturing plant in ShirChu, Jhiangsu province taken on 11th October. It's one of the main production centers of M9 and M11 missiles. On 2nd picture, take a close look on the area circled in red. You can see a small group of vehicles that look like container trucks except for their size and design of the cab. Next picture is a blow up of these vehicles. Here you can estimate the length of these trucks which comes out to be nearly 14 m, much longer than any container truck in use anywhere.
Next picture in the series of is of coastal docks in Tiajin, a naval base around 20 KM from Shirchu taken 3 days later. Here you can see these trucks lined on the upper right corner of the photograph. Satellite pictures taken same day show that the trucks had vanished from Shirchu So these are the same 4 trucks that we saw there. Next 3 photographs are of the ships which were docked there that day. “
GP paused and looked at his screen, “Are you following me ?”

“ I see that you've marked one of the ships. Anything special ?” General Vaidya asked without taking his eyes off the printouts of the images.

“That's the most interesting part sir. But I'll come to that later. As you can see in next picture, the trucks are not there. The parking area is empty. Either they drove them off some where or placed them on one of the ships. 2 of the ships docked there are destroyers, one is a refueling tanker and the rest small tugs. The ship that you noticed is the only civilian ship big enough to carry all these trucks.

That ship left the base on 17th October. It docked once in Malaysia for refueling a week later where it identified itself as Xajing, owned by a shipping company based in Hong Kong. It was on it's way to unload some toys in Pakistan. We did background checks of the company. It's just a shell company for CGBC group, a conglomerate of businesses owned mostly by senior members China's politico bureau. “

Seeing the expressions on their faces, GP realised that his audience was slowly catching on,. He paused for breath and began, “Every thing's clear till now ?

“Yes. Please continue.” Angad replied somewhat impatiently.

“ Next picture is of Gwadar port in Pakistan where the ship docked on 28th October. It's again marked in a red circle on the left. In the same picture on it's upper left corner, you can see two of the trucks that we saw earlier in ShirChu and Tiajin, again marked in red.”

“What's you point GP ? These trucks could carry anything. They could really be transporting toys for all we know.” Angad said cautiously.


“I can bet my year's salary that it was certainly not toys. First thing, if you are shipping something, only containers are used, not the whole truck. Second, size of shipping containers is a standard all over the world and these containers do not match anything. Third, cab part of these trucks too much like the trucks Chinese transport their missile upon. Fourth, dimensions of the containers are just right to contain one M-11 missile each. Fifth, trucks originating from a Chinese missile plant are unlikely to carry toys. At least not the kind my kids play with.”
he paused then added, "Not to mention, I sincerely doubt Pakis having the money to buy toys, even Chinese."

Air Chief Nirmaljeet looked frantic, “Mot******. By hell, you are right GP ! But there was only one missile strike. There are only 2 trucks in this picture and there are no trucks in the rest. Where the hell are they ? The ship has not left the port yet. Has it ? “

GP shook his head, “No sir. According to our sources, it's still docked. Even if two of the original four trucks are on the ship, one is still missing. We are still looking for that one.”

General Vaidya looked really grave “Shit. That's not good at all.”

GP paused for a while before beginning again, “Actually that's not all. Take a look at the other set of pictures. “ He waited while the others looked over them.

“Damn ! This train looks like it's transporting at least 2 missiles. But where the hell is it ?” Nirmaljeet asked with visible alarm.

General Vaidya looked like somebody had punched him in the gut. Without waiting for GP he answered the question himself, “That's on the railway line Chinese have constructed through PoK.”

“Correct General. We saw this train vanish in to one of the tunnels on that line this morning. It's still in that tunnel inside PoK.”

A shiver went down GP's spine as he said that. It had taken all of will power to control the tremblings in his body ever since he first understood the meaning of the pictures. Now he felt his self control weakening he went through the pictures again. “We're in real deep shit.” He muttered under his breath.
Booming voice of General Vaidya broke his reverie. “GP, where are these missiles now ?”

“Train mounted ones are being stored in a tunnel in south of Gilgit about 110 KM from LOC. We believe that particular tunnel is being used as a storage site for more weapons and barracks for at least 240 soldiers at any given time.”

“A train tunnel being used like that ?” Nirmal Jeet asked with some incredulity.

“Yes. They've been digging that particular mountain for 4 years. We have reports from our agents on grounds to confirm this fact. The last three photos of 2nd batch are of this particular tunnel including one taken from the ground of one of it's exits. Chinese have long terms plans for this region.”

“What about the other three missiles in Gwadar ? “

“It's entirely possible that all 3 have been unloaded and hidden somewhere safe. We are searching for them with everything we've got. In fact one of our satellites is scheduled to make a pass over the region in 20 minutes. We've alerted our men on ground too. I hope something will come up soon.”

Angad was twirling a pen his hands nervously, “It's not good enough GP. Not good at all. Lives of crores are at stake. We need to find those missiles and neutralize them yesterday.”

General Singh intervened, “Let him do his job Angad. This situation is much more dangerous than we previously imagined. Let's call up the ministers and get the permission to take these missiles out. ”

“But we don't have information about all the missiles yet.”

“That's why we start right now. There is no time to waste.” Nirmal Jeet replied for General Vaidya, then addressed GP, “GP, you have to contact us as soon as anything comes up. There can't be any slip ups now. Use everything you've got. Do you understand ?"

GP nodded as other participants of video conferencing broke the link. He stared at his screen for a few seconds apparently lost in deep thought. Then he looked at the watch and started waiting for the satellite feed about to start in 15 minutes.

hehe. Better that I picked that myself, even if others were too lazy to point that out

is that it for today..??i beg you one more post...please....please!!...

PS-if i ever develop a game you shankar da and ahuja sir are my story writers!!

ARC does photo reconnaissance , among other things, primarily using cameras on Aircrafts. While NTRO does satellite imagery analysis from MILSATs or ISRO images. Both work under parent organisation RaW. So not much was amiss unless you wanted to use only ARC which is unlikely in this situation as NTRO would have direct access to NSA for giving info on Satellite imagery analysis. Of course Israel would contact RaW chief or his Deputy , so ARC would make sense. Well NSA is nowhere seen here which is intriguing.

Let us get on with the storyline which is becoming more and more frightening each passing post .

I was under the impression that photo-analysis is done by ARC too.

That's IT!! I am ophishially retired from spy-story writing!


Great work Jamwal!!

Yes it does that too. It takes its own photos which are high resolution photographs taken from planes or UAVs. Image intelligence is one of the main function and it maintains more than 30 to 40 Aircrafts and unspecified no of UAVs for the purpose. Can't confirm if Gawadar port area could be done which is what you explained in the post.
NTRO does satellite imagery analysis. In your scenario you intended to use satellite images from MILSATs or ISRO that would pass first to NTRO for analysis.Prior to NTRO setup it was done exclusively by ARC. No doubt it would have retained some of the expertise. In any case both function under RaW.

And Dileep, you can't be let off the hook so easily. I liked your style and regularity of posting. We need to know future exploits of Garden fresh spook and Jasmine from previous story. They can't be sitting idle.

Thanks. I'll have to read up more.


Absolutely. At least not till I get a perfume bottle made by Jasmine

no time for small talk jamwal.. bring the next chapter... thats an order...

LOL. The thing is I wrote up 1 chapter in advance without writing a small but important part. Thought I'd do that after getting some facts straight. Will try posting that within a few hours


Chaankya saar,

Couldn't understand the thing you mentioned about Gwadar

No" saar" please.

What I meant is that whether ARC can do Arial Reconnaissance Photography using Aircraft or UAV at its disposal so deep in Pakistan at Gwadar without getting detected and bugged out. So it has to be satellite imagery and hence most probably NTRO would have come into picture.

Waiting for next move. (post)