Dragon Fire

Joint Staff Headquarters, Pakistan

‘Prime Minister Dixit is on the hotline, sir,’ said Masood as Hamid Khan, alone in his office, was reading the latest military reports from Kashmir.

‘Have all our aircraft left Kashmir?’ asked Khan, reaching for the telephone.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘How many have we lost?’

‘Eighteen on the ground. Ten F-16s and eight F-7s, all from the attack on Skardu. We lost two F-16s in dogfights. The enemy lost one aircraft, a Mirage 2000.’

‘Cold comfort, Captain. It is my fault for not anticipating their swift response.’

Khan picked up the phone. ‘Prime Minister, General Hamid Khan here.’

‘General, I will not speak unclearly, nor will I be diplomatic,’ said Hari Dixit as soon as Khan came on the line. ‘India holds you responsible for aiding and abetting the Chinese attack on Dharamsala, for murdering the former Indian Chief of Army Staff and the Home Minister, and for planning a terrorist campaign throughout India in which many lives were lost.’

‘Prime Minister, you are talking rubbish,’ interrupted Khan.

‘Shut up, General,’ snapped Dixit. ‘India will continue to form a fifteen-kilometre buffer zone across the LoC. We will attack any military installation, anywhere in Pakistan in order to achieve our objectives. Your attempts to draw Europe, the United States and China into this dispute will fail. You are an unelected military leader with a history of aiding insurgencies. You are not a man of the modern world.’

‘You have twenty-four hours to withdraw your forces from Pakistani territory, Prime Minister,’ said Khan. ‘And twelve to stop all hostilities.’

‘We will stop only when we have achieved the security of our borders.’

‘While you are violating ours. Hari, listen to me. For the sake of God, listen. If you were a military man you would understand what is happening. Pakistan cannot respond to Indian airstrikes by sending up its air force. We have four hundred combat aircraft. You have twelve hundred. We would end up being slaughtered. Pakistan has two deterrents against Indian aggression. Insurgency — or terrorism, as you call it — and the nuclear option. The former has kept us enemies for more than half a century. The latter would destroy us both in half a day. We’re unlucky in that we don’t rule a country like Switzerland, whose citizens are more happy with peace than with war. Our people are warriors. It needs extra-special skills for us to guide it through, Hari. Real imagination.’

‘General, that is a very nice speech. But if you are genuine, why are you picking a fight?’

‘I am lancing a boil, Prime Minister, like NATO lanced a boil in the Balkans by bombing Serbia. They caused many more casualties than if it had been left to fester. But the problem was exposed so that it could be solved.’

‘All right, General. You have one shot. Give me your solution.’

‘You set up your buffer between Tithwal and Marol along the northern sector of the LoC and I will not fight back. You will have secured the most militarized sector. I can’t let you do it along the western flank because it brings you too close to Islamabad. All hostilities cease. Prisoners are sent back. The dead returned. We then make a joint announcement on a referendum for Kashmir — a referendum which will take place. Once details are drawn up, I will do everything in my power to bring back the mujahedin. We have control, as you know, but it’s not total.’

‘The UN resolution stipulates that Pakistani forces must be withdrawn from the disputed territory before any referendum takes place,’ said Dixit, jotting down the points Khan had made.

‘If you don’t want me to internationalize this issue, let’s forget about a defunct UN resolution passed by the very same men who allowed this bloody partition to take place.’

‘I’ll get back to you.’

‘And the invasion continues?’

‘Yes.’