Dragon Fire

Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi

‘We’re losing on the higher ground east of Kargil,’ said the Indian Chief of Army Staff, Unni Khrishnan.

‘I thought we weren’t even trying to go in there,’ said Dixit impatiently.

‘No, but we were reinforcing and the troops helicoptered in had not been acclimatized to high altitude. Usually, they walk up there, taking a couple of weeks to get used to it.’

‘How on earth did that happen?’

Khrishnan shrugged. ‘It was a mix-up of men. The wrong battalion got on the wrong aircraft.’

‘In a military campaign these things happen,’ said Chandra Reddy, supportingly.

‘The affected area is around Batalik,’ explained Khrishnan, ‘between the Red and Yellow sectors designated in Operation Safe Ground. The altitude at our higher posts is above five and a half thousand metres. After two hours up there the men went down with acute mountain sickness. The brain swells trying to draw in enough oxygen and you end up dizzy or going mad.’

‘I thought all the troops in this operation were mountain-trained,’ snapped Dixit.

‘They are, Prime Minister. But if they spend three weeks at normal altitudes they have to start acclimatization all over again. The Pakistanis must have known this and threw all their remaining forces against us there, around Jubar, on Muntho Dhalo. The Shangruti post is now in Pak hands and the boys in Kukarthang are hanging on. We don’t know for how long.’

‘Casualties?’

‘In the hundreds, sir,’ said the Chief of Army Staff.

‘Do the press know about this?’

‘They are bound to find out. Although it seems they are concentrating on our successes.’

Dixit stabbed his finger onto his notepad. ‘If Pakistan has raised its flag on our territory, then we don’t have any successes. What about airstrikes?’

‘We can’t. They have Indian prisoners in their bunkers, sir.’

‘And the good news?’

‘We have the beginnings of a buffer zone.’ Khrishnan turned to Chandra Reddy for support. ‘But this is the most hostile terrain in which to fight and resupply.’

‘Can we hold it?’

Khrishnan shook his head. ‘No sir, not indefinitely.’

‘You said you could do it,’ interrupted the Prime Minister.

Reddy came to Khrishnan’s aid. ‘The mujahedin are throwing themselves at us in human waves, Prime Minister. This is unlike any other conflict we have fought with Pakistan. In war you can never be sure what is going to happen until it begins.’

‘Will we have to retreat?’

‘We can hold on for a while. But it depends how many casualties we can accept.’

‘Foreign Minister, any bright ideas?’ said Dixit, looking towards Purie. ‘Short of bombing Islamabad.’

‘Let’s hope that will not be necessary.’ Purie fiddled with his papers and took a sip from the glass of water in front of him, showing that he wanted to lance the anger in the room. ‘China is the key, Prime Minister. Without China, Pakistan is nothing. It is a Sudan or an Afghanistan. An Islamic basket-case. Indians understand the conflict with Pakistan and will accept casualties over the short term. They feel nothing about China. They can’t hate a place and people they don’t know. I urge you. Make peace with China. Move troops from the Chinese border to the Pakistan front and win the war.’

‘Make peace with China?’ Dixit repeated.

‘Yes. Call off the air patrols over Bhutan. Ring Tao and tell him you are on your way to Beijing. We can draw up negotiating panels on border disputes, nuclear disarmament, Tibet and trade, anything as long as we’re talking. I would also recommend that you offer to sign over the sovereignty of the Shaksgam Valley to China as a gesture of goodwill.’

‘The area that Pakistan gave to China in 1965?’

‘Yes. The Chinese have moved troops and artillery in there, but it’s a wasteland. Give it to them and, in return, ask that they phase out their military links with Pakistan and join the world of mature nations.’

‘Would they?’

‘We would make a start.’

‘What about Tibet?’ said Khrishnan.

‘Arrest a couple of Tibetans. Give Tao face within his own Communist Party and you’ll have him like an obedient puppy at your heels. As soon as Khan knows you’re having meetings with Tao, he’s going to think twice about how far he pushes this.’