Dragon Fire

Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, Delhi

‘I offer my resignation, Prime Minister,’ said Mani Naidu, the head of the Intelligence Bureau.

‘Refused,’ replied Hari Dixit as he took his chair at the head of the table and opened a book in front of him.

‘I would like you to accept my resignation as well,’ said Chandra Reddy, of RAW, who should have known in advance of Pakistan’s attack on Kargil.

‘Refused,’ said Dixit, running his finger down a page in the book. He looked up at Naidu. ‘If we had a Home Minister, he could go, but we don’t because he has been murdered. The situation is so grave and the actions of Hamid Khan so unpredictable that to reshuffle my intelligence agencies at this time would be immature to say the least. Within the past thirty minutes, the whole of the Dras-Kargil sector has fallen, and we need to look ahead. Foreign Minister, before we begin on the details could you sum up where we stand diplomatically with China, Pakistan and the United States?’

‘Pakistan denies involvement,’ said Prabhu Purie, ‘although we have the wreckage of their helicopters all over Kargil. We have heard nothing from Hamid Khan directly, but I expect them to call for a UN Security Council meeting in the next few hours. Equally disturbingly, China is racking up pressure both bilaterally and through international institutions. I’m told its troop levels on the border are almost high enough to launch an invasion. Reddy could give more details on that. Beijing has launched official complaints against us to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva.’

‘What on earth for?’ said Dixit.

‘Prison conditions,’ replied Purie. ‘We treat our prisoners inhumanely.’

‘They must be out of their minds.’