Dragon Fire

Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi

‘We haven’t spoken directly before,’ said Khan to Hari Dixit.

Chandra Reddy happened to be with Dixit when the hotline call came through, and as the Prime Minister spoke he slipped transcriptions of Khan’s speech onto the desk, highlighting the final section about the airstrikes and referendum. The tape recorders were on.

‘Only a solution to Kashmir can lead to permanent peace in South Asia, and this is the way to do it,’ Khan said. ‘I can only remind you that the original idea for a referendum came not from us but from India in 1947.’

‘The UN resolution of 13 August 1948 specified that Pakistan withdraw from Jammu and Kashmir, which you haven’t,’ replied Dixit. ‘The second resolution of 5 January 1949 stated that people should be consulted about their future only after the withdrawal and after normalcy had returned. That hasn’t yet happened.’

‘The resolutions were overtaken by the Simla Agreement of 1972,’ Khan said. ‘But in any case, all this is long ago. Let’s press ahead without dragging up history.’

Dixit interrupted. ‘The resolutions still stand.’

‘We must focus on the future and not the past.’

‘You have been organizing an insurgency in Kashmir for the past twenty years,’ Dixit continued, calling in every political and diplomatic instinct to prevent himself from slamming down the phone. ‘Two days ago the Northern Army Commander and the Home Minister were murdered by the shooting down of their helicopter with a Stinger missile.’

Khan paused, then said: ‘I have only just taken power. Some things have gone further than I would have allowed.’

‘Did you order the Stinger attack?’

‘My information is that it was carried out by extremists, attached to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi guerrillas.’

‘Where did they get the missiles from?’

‘The Taleban. We have told the Afghan government that we will not tolerate another such incident. All Stingers in the hands of the Pakistan government are accounted for.’

Reddy, hovering behind, wrote TIBET in prominent capital letters and put it on top of the papers in front of Dixit. ‘And the attack on Dharamsala,’ said the Prime Minister. ‘We have a Pakistani suspect, caught with weapons.’

‘I know. But I can’t add anything. Let us start from yesterday. My intention, Hari, is to end conflict, not begin another one.’

‘Well, General,’ said Dixit, refusing to be drawn into a first-name relationship, ‘I will consult and get back to you within the day. But as you know, the Indian people would be reluctant to permit the incorporation of Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan simply because the majority of the people there are Muslims. The impact on the Muslims in India would be dangerous and it would threaten the secular basis of our society.’

‘Don’t talk about history again, Hari,’ said Khan. ‘India is no longer secular. It is a Hindu state and Pakistan is a Muslim state. Once you accept that, Kashmir will solve itself.’

When Dixit ended the call, Reddy said: ‘We can’t accept, sir. It would be political suicide.’

‘I know,’ said the Prime Minister. ‘Let’s get out a statement saying that.’