SALIM MUST DIE (4 page)

Yep! He's definitely PMS-ing
. Anbu sighed as he began to gather up the maps and laptop that the Corps Commander would definitely ask for the minute they landed…
especially if he knows I am not carrying them
.

THE DISTANT THUNDER OF GUNS WAS STILL VERY MUCH IN
evidence when they landed at the 71 Infantry Brigade Headquarters, two hours and forty minutes later. As is the norm for such visits, the helipad had been secured by an infantry platoon. Another platoon was engaged in securing the key features in the vicinity, primarily to ensure that the visiting VIP was safe from snipers.

All of them knew that in such rugged terrain a platoon was scarcely enough to provide any cognizable level of safety. Protection was afforded simply by the fact that the details and timings of such visits were always kept strictly under wraps. In fact, most helipads in such sensitive areas conduct the protection drill randomly so that even people staying in the nearby areas don't get to know if it is an exercise or if a VIP is actually arriving.

The General stepped out of the chopper, stooping instinctively to avoid the still whirling rotor blades, even though they were well above him. Anbu followed a couple of feet behind him. At the same time, the Division and Brigade Commanders stepped forward to receive the General.

The Division Commander was about six feet away when the red star blossomed on his chest. One moment he was walking towards them. The next he was being thrown backwards as the bullet thumped into his chest. The sound of the shot had been drowned by the slowly receding but still deafening high-pitched whine of the chopper blades. However, there was no mistaking the blood that sprayed out from his chest.

Anbu reacted on trained instinct. Lunging forward, he slammed into the Corps Commander's back. The rugby-like tackle threw the General forward and down with Anbu riding on him, literally smothering him into the ground. The side of the General's jaw shattered as he hit the ground hard, breaking more than a few teeth and ensuring his dentist would be a busy man for many weeks. Of course, a bullet in the head would have been a lot more painful, if not terminal.

Anbu was not as lucky. The bullet meant for the Corps Commander went through his left thigh.

ANBU SNAPPED OUT OF HIS REVERIE AND RETURNED TO THE
moment to find his forehead slick with sweat. His hand was clutching his left thigh. And Captain Mohammed Sami was at the door looking at him curiously.

‘You okay, boss?’ he asked, looking more than a trifle worried, because he had never seen the unflappable Colonel thus.

‘I'm fine, MS.’ Anbu collected himself with a shake of his head and smiled. ‘Come on in.’

‘You're sure? You look quite… quite peakish to me….’

‘No, it's nothing… a bad dream, I guess. I must have dozed off for a moment.’ Anbu shook himself mentally, pushing away the memory of those dreadful weeks when he had been stuck in a hospital bed, slowly and painfully recovering from the bullet wound in his thigh. That was a road he did not want to walk down again, definitely not when he was awake.
The nightmares that return with unfailing regularity every night are bad enough
.

‘Are you sure, sir?’ Sami persisted.

‘Of course I am, MS. It's nothing,’ Anbu replied reassuringly. ‘Anyway… where is our deadly duo?’

He had barely spoken when there was a brief knock on the door and Flight Lieutenant Ankita Bhatnagar and Captain Manoj Khare walked in. ‘Ah! There you are! Both of you have a long life.’ Anbu motioned them towards the chairs opposite him.

‘I hope it's a happy one too, sir,’ Khare smiled.

‘Then we obviously need to ensure you're not around,’ Ankita quipped.

‘Now, now, you two,’ Anbu chided gently. ‘Stop behaving as though you are already married.’

‘Married? To him?’ Ankita's face went bright red as she replied quickly, too quickly. ‘You must be joking, sir.’ Her tone was caustic, but the light in her eyes was not.

The demure Ankita Bhatnagar was a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force. She was just over five and a half feet and built like an athlete. She made an incongruous pair with the tall, dark and burly Captain Manoj Khare. On the face of it the two appeared to have little in common. But both were capable of doing things with computers that would have made an Intel chip feel stupid. Either of them could have walked in and picked up a top job with any computer company anywhere in the world. However, both craved a life beyond the ordinary. Almost certainly, if Anbu had not found them and pulled them out of the humdrum of regular army life, they would have found their way into the arms of some willing computer corporation. Both were also physical fitness freaks, adept at a variety of martial arts and unarmed combat. The duo had been humorously nicknamed ‘Beauty and the Beast’ by their comrades in Force 22.

Anbu had put their special skills to good use and appointed them as the Force 22 intelligence team. Both had done cross-attachments with several of India's various intelligence agencies to hone their skills. They had even done short stints with the Delhi and Srinagar police to get their anti-terror operations up to speed. It was doubtful whether Anbu could have found a better pair to work with Rao, and help him get the NIC going.

Anbu gave them a summary of everything that had transpired and what was expected of them. An hour later, when the two of them exited his office, they went with a keen sense of anticipation… for what lay ahead.

Enter the NIC

THE HOME MINISTRY'S CENTRAL CONFERENCE HALL WAS PACKED
and buzzing with a keen sense of anticipation when the PM entered. He was flanked by the Home and Defence ministers. Already present in the room were a dozen key ministers, most of whom comprised the Central Crisis Management Committee: the directors of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Joint Cipher Bureau (JCB), Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), Satellite Intelligence Directorate (SAID), Aviation Research Centre (ARC), Directorate of Air Intelligence (AI), Directorate of Navy Intelligence (NI), Defence Image Processing and Analysis Centre (DIPAC), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti-Terrorist Task Force (ATTF), the three Service Chiefs, and the Directors of various para-military and emergency management organizations.

The ‘guest list’ had been carefully scrutinized by the PM's office to ensure that everyone who was connected with intelligence was included.

‘We must ensure that every possible cog gets involved with the NIC. I want people at all levels to understand and appreciate what the NIC can do in terms of integrating efforts and maximizing resources.’ That was the mandate the PM had given to his staff and that was what they were doing their best to ensure.

It took a few minutes for the pleasantries to be completed. Then silence fell as G.K. Rao walked up to the podium.

In his mid-fifties, the short portly Rao wore black, round, horn-rimmed spectacles that had faded from fashion a few decades ago. Born into a family of aristocrats, who were vaguely related to the erstwhile royalty of Hyderabad, Rao was one of the first agents to join RAW. He had to his credit several daring operations, none of which would be publically known for many years to come. Growing from strength to strength on sheer merit, Rao had also done several stints with ARC and JIC. Today he was a veteran of no mean standing and one of the few people who had an in-depth understanding of the true state of Indian Intelligence. His biggest strength was his total lack of political leanings or mentors. This, more than anything else, made him acceptable across the political spectrum.

As was his wont, Rao wasted little time in pleasantries and launched straight into the heart of the matter.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, today we shall be taking a broad look at world affairs. This is essential for an understanding of the prevalent situation. The topic is vast and extremely complex and there is no way anyone can do justice to it in the brief time available to us. That is why I shall just touch upon those aspects that I think are relevant. Please feel free to question, correct or contribute whenever you feel the need to do so.’

The expressions on the faces of those assembled in the hall left no doubt in anyone's mind that they were going to do just that. However, to begin with, Rao sailed along pretty smoothly.

‘A study of the history of the human race tells us that the course of most major events has been governed by the quest for power, religion, or objects of economic value such as gold, diamonds, precious metals and minerals and, in recent times, oil. These three elements have been the major cause of the emergence, resurgence or extinction of nations and peoples.

‘I will not dwell on the power factor since I think it is quite self-explanatory. But let us take a closer look at religion and oil, since these two have been the root cause of most of what ails us today.’

The introduction was on the verge of acquiring pedantic overtones when Rao changed gear.

‘Let us consider religion first. Much is made of which is the better faith, which god is the true god and which religion the most militant. Without getting into these debates, let us take a look at some facts. Today there are nineteen major religions and about 240 religious groups that flourish in the world.’

Rao gave a discreet nod to an unseen assistant parked in some unseen location. A computer-generated slide blazed across the giant screen behind him.

Rao paused for a moment for the contents of the slide to be absorbed by his audience.

‘These percentages have been taken from open sources available on the internet and what you see are averages derived from the figures available on several sites. They may not be very precise but they are more than adequate to give us an idea of the world today – in religious terms, I mean.’

The slide faded away.

‘Now, while the purpose of every religion is to help us rid ourselves of sin, bring us closer to God and help promote harmony, peace and love, it is strange that since the beginning of time religion has been the root cause of bloodshed and violence. Forget about seeing eye-to-eye with other religions, most people have not even been able to co-exist peacefully with their co-religionists. That is why we have Catholics hounding Protestants and Sunnis exterminating Shias like vermin.’

A rustle of sound stirred through the room, but Rao continued without pause.

‘Of all the religions mentioned above, Hinduism is possibly the oldest surviving religion. It is said to have its roots in Dravidianism, which was practiced around 6000–3000 BC and hence predates the Sumerian, Egyptian and Babylonian cultures.’

Another brief stir ruffled the room.

‘Judaism finds its origins in the covenant between God and Abraham somewhere around 2000 BC, hence it is one of the older religions and its doctrines have influenced Christianity, Islam and the Baha'i faith. Despite the fact that it, like Christianity and Islam, is one of the religions of the Book, the Jews have suffered the most abuse and repression down the ages and a large part of this has been at the hands of Christians and Muslims. The Christians believe that it is Jesus Christ, the son of God, who shows us the true path to salvation whereas Islam believes Mohammed is the true Prophet of the One God. I personally have no comments on this matter, since it is a matter of personal belief.’

The murmur of sound this time was much louder.

‘However, it is undeniable that much blood has been shed over this issue and, if history is any indicator, more will continue to be spilled. The Christians always believed that the savage heathen, that is, almost everyone who is not a Christian, needs to be saved. Now we all know that saving comes at a cost. In this case the cost was borne by those unfortunate heathens who had to have their souls saved. All of us who have read about the Crusades know that many hundreds of thousands of heathen souls were dispatched to some unidentified, uncharted and unknown heaven as their earthly bodies were put to the sword.’

By now there were several red faces in the audience as blood pressures rose.

‘Similarly, Muslims believe that only those who follow the tenets of Prophet Mohammed attain jannat with its seventeen virgins.’ Rao paused briefly before resuming sotto voce. ‘Strangely enough, it has never been specified if these virgins are male or female.’

Angry whispers and a brief, uncertain burst of laughter met these words.

‘Like the Christians, for the Muslims too, everyone else is a kafir – an unbeliever – and needs to be saved. Accordingly, a large number of kafirs have been either converted or eliminated.’

Some more faces went red.

‘Possibly Buddhism and Jainism are among those few religions that have no – or negligible – blood on their hands. But that could possibly be because they account for a tiny percentage of humanity and so it is safe to assume that they were too busy saving their own hides to worry about saving the souls of others.’

Somebody laughed before being glared down by his neighbours.

‘To sum up, who, if any, has the moral high ground and which, if any, is the true God is largely a matter of conjecture, endless debate and possibly a lot more bloodshed. A lot of the problems caused by religion have been compounded by politicians of many hues all over the world who have unscrupulously used religion as a tool to foment division and dissent with a view to attaining their own petty goals.’

This was met with an angry and totally predictable outburst from a section of the audience. Rao raised his voice and overrode the noise that threatened to disrupt the flow of his words.

‘However, what is pretty certain is that whoever the true God is, he has been hugely biased in terms of religion and the distribution of global oil reserves, which is the other major factor that we are going to talk about today. I am sure I need not reiterate which religion is in the majority in those areas where this black gold called oil is found. Whether this was reward for following the true God or whether it was merely compensation for the barren ruggedness of the terrain in which this oil is found, I leave it to you to decide.’

This time the ripple of sound that slashed through the room was loud. Rao continued unfazed, ‘I trust all of you are aware that the broader Middle East-Central Asian region encompasses more than seventy per cent of the global oil and natural gas reserves. Saudi Arabia possesses twenty-five per cent, Iraq eleven per cent and Iran ranks third with ten per cent. In comparison, America possesses less than 2.8 per cent of the reserves. It is primarily because of this that, in mid-1995, the US administration released a National Security document stating that the objective of the war on Iraq was to
protect the United States’ uninterrupted and secure access to oil
.’

‘What?’ a not-so-well-informed and very irate politician broke in. ‘Can you show us this document?’

‘Yes of –’ Rao was interrupted before he could complete his reply.

‘Why would you doubt it?’ a better-informed politician cut in. ‘We all know that the US economy needs oil the way a junkie needs a fix.’

‘Very true, sir. America consumes about twenty-four per cent of the global oil production.’ Rao took control before a discussion could develop. ‘That is why Iraq, and subsequently Iran and Syria, became officially identified targets on the American road map to war. Targeting them was totally in the interests of the Anglo-American oil conglomerates, the Wall Street financial establishment and the huge military-industrial complex that has tremendous influence over the White House.’

‘What business interests are you talking about? How much influence can businessmen have over the administration of a country?’ a senior politician asked indignantly.

‘Quite a lot, from what is now emerging,’ Rao replied evenly. ‘Just to give you an idea, there are several companies such as Halliburton, Bechtel, Parsons, KBR and Northstar that have made billions of dollars from the so-called reconstruction of Iraq – and this information is no secret.’

A politician seated at the back raised his voice. ‘I see! So the Americans first give a new lease of life to their military-industrial complex by waging this war and now they're making money rebuilding the country they have decimated. So what? Someone has to do the rebuilding after every war.’

‘I agree with you, someone does have to do it,’ Rao took over again, ‘but strangely enough, all the companies that landed billions of dollars worth of business were those with Republican leanings and known to be tight with the White House. And everyone knows that Dick Cheney was the CEO and Chairman of Halliburton just before he took over as the American Vice President.’

‘He resigned from Halliburton before he took over public office,’ someone responded defensively.

‘Yes he did, but he did not give up his stock options in Halliburton. In fact, when this came to light he sold a part of these options and donated eight million US dollars to charity.’

‘Well, there you are.’

‘But that happened only after he was caught with his hands in the till, as it were. In the meantime the Halliburton share price went up from a dismal ten dollars before the war to a never before achieved high of forty-nine dollars.’

‘Just where are you getting all this data from? How come…’

‘Sir, all this data is in the public domain. It is freely available on the internet if you know where to look for it,’ Rao cut in smoothly. ‘Also, there has also been a very well researched program that has been run on this whole sordid matter by the BBC.’

‘My God! That's daylight robb –’

‘And it does not end there. Republicans own all the companies selected for these huge contracts; some had barely a few hundred dollars to their names and no prior experience in the field. Most of them defaulted or failed to deliver after milking the government of billions. In fact, a BBC investigation has established that nearly twenty-three billion dollars are yet to be accounted for.’

Twenty-three billion dollars
!

The shock was clearly visible on the faces in the audience.

‘This huge sum of money has simply gone missing. After the matter became public, a couple of these war profiteers are now facing legal action, but even after the passage of so many years, none of the companies involved has been indicted and no contractor of consequence has been punished.’ Rao added gravely, ‘I leave it to you all to imagine what is going on.’

He allowed the audience to dwell on that for a moment before he resumed.

‘To enable it to wage this so-called War on Terror, the Americans needed the moral, if not physical, support of the global community. This was essential to give them the moral high ground that they always hanker for. Towards this end several other like-minded governments joined them to set up the “Coalition of the Willing”. They not only helped to drown out the din of dissent on various international platforms, they even provided manpower and munitions. The Americans also needed lots of strategically sited bases in this part of the world. They found one such base in Pakistan.’