Dragonfire
Authors: Humphrey Hawksley
For my father and my mother
Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh, India
Operational Directorate, South Block, New Delhi,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
The White House, Washington, DC
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi,
Srinagar, the Kashmir Valley, India
Indian Army Headquarters, Srinagar, India
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi,
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
The President’s Office, The White House,
Indian Air Force Base, Lohegaon, Maharastra
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
National Security Council, Washington, DC
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
Foreign Ministry, Beijing, China
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad, Pakistan
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
Foreign Ministry Building, Beijing
Prime Minister’s Residence, Tokyo, Japan
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, Delhi,
The White House, Washington, DC
Prime Minister’s Residence, Race Course Road,
Parliament Building, Islamabad, Pakistan
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi
New China News Agency, Lhasa, Tibet, China
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
Foreign Ministry Building, Hong Kong, China
Oval Office, White House, Washington, DC
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, Delhi
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi
Mumbai/Bombay, Maharastra, southern India
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi,
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi
Joint Staff Headquarters, Pakistan
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi
China World Hotel, Beijing, China
India–Pakistan border, Rajasthan, India
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi
India–Pakistan border, Rajasthan, India
India–Pakistan Border, Rajasthan
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
The Prime Minister’s Residence, Tokyo
Newsroom, BBC Television Centre, London
India–Burma border, Tirap Frontier District,
Presidential helicopter Marine One, USA
Prime Minister’s Office, Downing Street, London
State Department, Washington, DC
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Sargodha Airbase, Pakistan: 32° 03' N, 72°
A. Q. Khan Laboratory, Kahuta, Pakistan: 33° 54'
Samungli Airbase, near Quetta, Pakistan: 30° 14'
Multan, Pakistan: 71° 30' N, 30° 15' E
Indian military HQ, Karwana, Haryana, India
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
The Oval Office, The White House, Washington, DC
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
Prime Minister’s Office, Downing Street, London
National Command Centre, Karwana, Haryana, India
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Cabinet Room, Downing Street, London
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
National Command Centre, Karwana, Haryana, India
Indian military HQ, Karwana, Haryana, India
The Rose Garden, The White House, Washington, DC
RAF Upper Heyford, Gloucestershire, UK
Eastern Air Command, Shillong, India
Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
Prime Minister’s Office, Canberra, Australia
Great Cocos Island Naval Base, Myanmar/Burma
Western Hills, Military Headquarters, China
Prime Minister’s Office, Wellington, New Zealand
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Kilo
-class submarine 0821, type 877EKM, Bay of
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, Delhi,
Presidential Palace, Taipei, Taiwan
The Oval Office, The White House, Washington, DC
China World Hotel, Beijing, China
Military Headquarters, Western Hills, China
Prime Minister’s Residence, Tokyo, Japan
Military Headquarters, Western Hills, China
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Military Headquarters, Western Hills, China
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Square, Taipei, Taiwan
Military Headquarters, Western Hills, China
Foreign Ministry, Beijing, China
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, Delhi,
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, China
Prime Minister’s Office, Tokyo, Japan
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Foreign Ministry, Beijing, China
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Military Headquarters, Western Hills, China
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Operational Directorate, South Block, Delhi, India
USS
Ronald Reagan
, Bay of Bengal: 15° N,
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Xia
-class type 92 strategic missile submarine,
Operational Directorate, South Block, Delhi, India
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
Military Headquarters, Western Hills, China
Operational Directorate, South Block, Delhi, India
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
AUSTRALIA
Keith Backhurst – Defence Minister
Malcolm Smith – Prime Minister
CHINA
Kang Suyin – Ambassador to Moscow
Leung Liyin, General – Defence Minister
Tao Jian – President
Tang Siju – Second Deputy, Chief of the General Staff
Tashi – Chinese agent in India
Teng Guo Feng – Ambassador to Islamabad
Jamie Song – Foreign Minister
Lhundrub Togden – jailed Tibetan Buddhist monk
INDIA
Indrajit Bagchi – Home Minister
Colonel Neelan Chidambaram – commander,
Baghla (Wool) sector
Major Gendun Choedrak – Leader of Special Frontier
Force operation
Amrit Dhal – Group Captain, No. 24 Squadron
‘Hunting Hawks’
Hari Dixit – Prime Minister
Captain Tsangpo Jamyang – Second in charge of SFF operation
Corporal Vasant Kaul – Singh’s tank driver
Unni Khrishnan – Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Mani Naidu – Director of the Intelligence Bureau
General Prabhu Ninan – Western army commander
Lieutenant General Gurjit Singh – Commander, XXI
Armoured Corps
Prabhu Purie – Foreign Minister
Chandra Reddy – Special Secretary, Research and Analysis Wing
Shanti Tirthankara – anti-nuclear activist
JAPAN
General Shigehiko Ogawa – Director, Defence
Intelligence Headquarters
Shigeto Wada – Prime Minister
NEW ZEALAND
Michael Hall – SBS Royal Marines sniper
Harriet Sheehan – Prime Minister
Benjamin Leigh – Defence Minister
PAKISTAN
Mullah al-Bishri – Islamic leader
General Sadek Hussein – Special Defence Attaché to Beijing
Javed Jabbar – Ambassador to Beijing
Yasin Kalapur – Air Marshal and coup leader
Dr Malik Khalid – missile physicist
General Mohamed Hamid Khan – Chief of Army Staff and coup leader
Ahmed Magam – deposed Deputy Finance Minister
Captain Mohammed Masood – Khan’s
aide-de-camp
Saeed – Stinger marksman
RUSSIA
Nikolai Baltin – Ambassador to Beijing
Vladimir Gorbunov – President
SINGAPORE
John Chiu – Prime Minister
TAIWAN
Lin Chung-ling – President
UNITED KINGDOM
Christopher Baker – Foreign Secretary
Martin Cartwright – BBC Asia Correspondent
Martin Evans – Head of South Asian Department
Eileen Glenny – Press secretary, Prime Minister’s office
David Guinness – Defence Secretary
General (Rtd) Sir Peter Hanman – BBC television commentator
Max Harding – BBC television presenter
Sir Malcolm Parton – Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Anthony Pincher – Prime Minister
Darren Scott – BBC Asia cameraman
John Stopping – Chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee
Robin Sutcliffe – Head of News Gathering, BBC
Lord Mani Thapar – Indian businessman
UNITED STATES
