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  FIVE

  ‘What the bloody hell are we doing, sitting on our hands while those bastards go around killing scores of innocent men, women and children everywhere? We should just…’

  ‘We should just what, Vikram?’ Anbu asked quietly.

  ‘We know who is behind this, sir.’ Tiwathia looked agitated. ‘The Indian Mujahideen is just a front for the YPS. And I am sure there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the YPS is yet another tool being used by the ISI.’

  ‘No, Vikram, I am not saying there is any doubt. We all know that Pakistan is using the jihadis to bleed us white.’ Anbu didn’t elaborate since both his officers were already conversant with the facts. After the debacle of two failed operations, Gibraltor and Grand Slam, and the comprehensive defeat handed out to them by the Indian forces in all the wars they had fought, the Pakistan Army had realized they had no hope of matching forces with their neighbours. And so, in 1988, General Zia launched Operation TOPAC, a proxy war initiated and supported by the ISI, which was aimed at balkanizing India. ‘This latest Indian Mujahideen stunt is their attempt to prove that this is a domestic Indian problem and that Pakistan has nothing to do with it.’

  ‘Aren’t they serious nutcases?’ Sami couldn’t contain himself. ‘Their economy is in shambles. Their economic growth rate is down from 6 to 0.6 per cent, inflation is soaring over 25 per cent, and unemployment is growing on a daily basis. They barely have enough to eat and yet they’re exhausting all their resources either trying to balkanize India or talibanize Afghanistan. If the IMF had not given the Pakis over 7 billion dollars in aid last year and the Americans were not pumping in over 1.5 billion dollars every year, Pakistan would have crumbled and fragmented long ago.’

  ‘I don’t understand how there can be any Indian support for these conniving, deceitful bastards.’ Tiwathia slammed his fist on the table angrily.

  ‘Vikram, it’s always easy for terrorist groups to recruit criminals or otherwise disgruntled and disillusioned people. Anyway, I think this is a question MS will be able to answer better.’ Anbu gave Sami an encouraging look.

  ‘Well, sir, we all know that politicians will do anything to exploit the minority vote bank. And there have been several incidents that left many Indian Muslims feeling persecuted. These are the people the ISI is using to carry out terror strikes in India.’

  ‘But don’t these guys realize they are being used as pawns by the ISI?’

  ‘It’s not that simple, Vikram. Let me give you a potted history first, okay? Like every socio-religious group, Muslims are also divided into various groups – Sunnis, Shias, Brelvis, Hanafis, Sufis, Deobandis, Salafis, and other, more radical ones like the Wahhabis.

  ‘Both Sunnis and Shias agree on the Five Pillars of Islam: Shahada, the profession of faith; Salat, the prayers; Zakat, the giving of alms; Sawm, fasting during Ramadan; and Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. However, Sunnis feel that Shias are more focused on the martyrdom of Ali and Hussein and less on the fundamentals of Islam. Shias also have a different call to prayer and often combine prayers, thus sometimes worshipping only thrice instead of the five times that Sunnis insist on. They even perform Wudu, or washing, and Salat differently and place their forehead on pieces of hardened clay from Karbala rather than on the prayer mat directly. Clear so far?’

  Tiwathia nodded.

  ‘Sunnis, on the other hand, believe that the first four Caliphs rightfully took Mohammed’s place as the leader of the Muslim world and they recognize their heirs as legitimate religious leaders. Also, Shias and Sunnis have very different views or interpretations of the Sharia, which literally means the path to the water source and is the body of Islamic religious law, which if followed will lead to salvation.’ Sami stopped and looked at them expectantly.

  ‘Okay, I think I got that,’ Tiwathia said, after he had mulled it over for a moment. ‘Now tell me about the radical sects you mentioned earlier.’

  ‘The fundoos are the ones who seek to establish a global Islamic state and want all Muslims to return to pristine Islam as it was practised in the early period. These so-called purists take a very stringent view of the Sharia and are dead against any deviations from the Islam that was practised by the Prophet, his companions and their immediate followers. That’s why they take a very dim view not only of non-Muslims, but also of other Muslim sects – particularly the ones that take a more liberal view of Islam.’

  ‘I see... go ahead.’

  ‘Okay, so just like Muslims everywhere else, the Indian Muslim has also been influenced by various schools of Islamic thought down the ages. In India, in the eighteenth century, there was Shah Waliullah, who tried to address every section of Muslim society and get them to revert to pure Islam. He didn’t have much success but his views exert considerable influence even today. In fact, it’s unfortunate that several sections of the ulema study his teachings just to try and prove his Deobandi or Brevli roots.’

  ‘Why is that unfortunate?’

  ‘Simply because both those sects originated long after Waliullah’s death.’

  ‘So, basically they are just trying to capitalize on his name.’

  ‘Exactly.’ Sami nodded and resumed, ‘The second person who tried hard to revive Salafism in India was Shah Ismail, the grandson of Shah Waliullah. However, like his grandfather, he didn’t make much headway; nevertheless, he is viewed by the modern Islamic fundamentalist as a role model.’

  ‘So how relevant is all this to what’s happening in India today?’

  ‘I’m coming to that, but first let me take you back to Saudi Arabia for a moment. In the eighteenth century, there lived a man named Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab. Wahhab was another purist who formed an alliance with the House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, to try and eliminate all deviations from the practice of Islam. He was by all accounts very successful in this alliance; even today, the Saudi ulema is very closely associated with the House of Saud. In fact, now the Wahhabi writ runs large not just in Saudi Arabia but also in parts of Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. They also have considerable influence over large parts of South Asia.’

  ‘And what about India?’

  ‘Well, with Saudi aid, the Salafis flourish in India even today. However, you must understand that historically the Indian Muslim is secular and by now totally sick of the way our religion has been maligned by these jihadis. We’re tired of being viewed with suspicion by everyone because of the actions of a handful of fundamentalists.’ He spoke bitterly. ‘By now, the world over, most people only associate terrorism with Islam; they don’t realize that Islam is the second largest religion in the world and as beautiful, deep and strong as any other.’ There was complete silence when he stopped.

  ‘It’s complex, I know.’ Sami gave a small smile. ‘It can be a bit confusing, especially if you understand that what I am saying is merely my interpretation of events; there are many who have differing views on all this.’ He shrugged. ‘Anyway, to round off, in India, Waliullah’s followers founded the Dar-ul-uloom at Deoband with a view to propagating the return of Islamic puritanism in India. For the Deobandis, the guiding principles remain the goals of Waliullah. In India they exercise considerable influence through a network of madrassas.’

  ‘So it’s basically Waliullah’s legacy that we are suffering even to this day?’

  ‘Well, that’s not quite how I would put it, but you’re not incorrect in saying that.’

  ‘And the ISI simply uses this segment to unleash terror in India!’ Tiwathia shook his head gravely. ‘Don’t the Pakis realize how badly all this shit is going to boomerang on them?’

  None of them offered an opinion since they all knew from watching the news that most of Pakistan was in flames. The Swat Valley was already under Taliban control, Peshawar teetered on the edge, and now even the major Punjabi and Sindhi cities were under threat. Despite the elaborate denials issued by the civilian government ostensibly in control of Pakistan, it was no secret that in the NWFP, which in geographical terms was abo
ut one-sixth of Pakistan, women had already been forced back into the burqa, over two hundred girls’ schools had been destroyed, music was banned and barbers forbidden to shave beards. In an almost exact repeat of the scenario that had earlier played out in Afghanistan when the Taliban moved in to seize control, the beard patrols were out and the slightest infraction invited brutal, primitive punishments like flogging and stoning.

  ‘Everyone realizes that, Vikram,’ Anbu finally spoke up. ‘There has hardly ever been a terrorist incident anywhere in the world that hasn’t implicated Pakistan in some way or the other. Either there were Pakistani nationals or people of Pakistani origin involved, or the attackers had spent some time in Pakistan in the period preceding the attacks. And all the organizations that perpetrated these attacks continue to function with total impunity in Pakistan, though in some rare cases they have made some trivial, cosmetic changes to their names. In fact, just recently the British prime minister went on record to state that over 75 per cent of the terror attacks against Britain originated in Pakistan.’

  ‘Why is that surprising?’ Tiwathia flared up. ‘We all know that regular Pakistan Army troops and ISI paramilitaries were fighting alongside Al Qaeda when the Americans attacked Afghanistan. That’s why they even had to beg the Americans to give them a few hours’ window to get their troops out when Khost was attacked.’

  ‘The irony is that it was the CIA who helped Osama to build that massive complex of tunnels at Tora Bora.’ Sami gave a grim smile. ‘Then they had to expend so many American lives to capture it back.’

  ‘Well, serves the fools right. We warned them about this all along, but they never paid any attention to us, and now every bloody Al Qaeda idiot is either hiding in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas or being given safe sanctuary there. Funnily enough, the Americans had used these identical hideouts to launch mujahideen operations against the Russians in the eighties.’

  ‘And don’t forget how the Pakis kept Osama Bin Laden and about fifty of his Taliban fighters at the Chirat commando training facility in northwest Pakistan, in August 1998, when the Americans were pressurizing Mullah Omar to give him up.’

  ‘What else could they do? They could hardly leave their old Taliban buddy in the lurch. They hid Osama in Chirat so that Mullah Omar could tell the Americans he was not in Afghanistan.’

  ‘That’s the nub of the problem, Vikram.’ Anbu stepped into the discussion. ‘After creating this monstrous lot of terror organizations and supporting them all these years, the Pakis suddenly realized that they would have to turn on them or at least appear to turn on them when old George Bush gave them the “are you with us or against us” ultimatum after 9/11.’

  ‘They couldn’t turn on them even if they wanted to, sir. There’s no way in hell the Pak Army or the ISI will allow that to happen. Not after the massive Islamization programme that they went through under General Zia. Now they’re not only sympathetic towards the Taliban and Al Qaeda, they actually applaud their rabid ideology and support it fully. In fact, they regard these terror groups as strategic assets.’

  ‘Although that’s what the Paki general said in his famous memoirs.’

  ‘Yeah, right! Don’t you know that in 1999, RAW released a recording of the same guy talking with his Chief of Staff – the COS was assuring him that they had the jihadi groups by their tooties!’

  ‘Oh well, we know who has got whom by their balls.’ Tiwathia laughed sarcastically. ‘I’ve always wanted to know why the general called the book a memoir because I think it’s one of the best works of fiction I’ve ever come across.’

  ‘The fact is, there was no way in hell that Pakistan could afford to antagonize the Yanks by openly refusing to take on the terrorists. And they needed that “frontline state in the war on terror” tag so they could continue to milk the Americans of billions of dollars, save their economy, and avoid being declared a failed, terror-sponsor state by the international community. In any case, just to stay afloat they need the billions of dollars the Yanks have been doling out to them all these years.’

  ‘That’s exactly why, every once in a while, the Pakis catch a few low-level Al Qaeda terrorists and throw them at the Yanks to appease them. The only two or three senior Al Qaeda commanders who have been killed or captured so far are the ones who started refusing to toe the Paki line or those the drones took out.’

  ‘Don’t the Americans have any sense? Can’t they see how the Pakis are leading them up the garden path? Their own economy is staggering and yet they’re pumping billions into Pakistan. And all the while, a handful of Pakis are coolly diverting this money into Swiss accounts. None of it is reaching their economy, that’s for sure. No money has gone into infrastructure, social services, healthcare or education, otherwise they wouldn’t be in the sad shape they are in today.’

  ‘As for the military hardware that America has been giving them to fight the terrorists, they’re either using them to arm the terrorists in Kashmir or to strengthen their line-up against India,’ Sami said angrily. ‘The Americans must be really dumb not to know this!’

  ‘No, MS! The Americans are aware of it, especially after what Salim’s lashkar did at New Orleans and San Francisco last week. God knows how many died and how many more will die in the days to come. Believe me, there’s nothing like having a few thousand of your countrymen killed to give you a rude wake-up call.’

  ‘Yes, that certainly got them by the short hair,’ Sami agreed. That’s why they’ve now stepped up the pressure on Pakistan to turn off support to terrorists all over the place, including Kashmir.’

  ‘Which brings us right back to the point I was making, Vikram. The Pakis are turning cartwheels trying to prove that terrorism in India is a homegrown freedom struggle rather than Pak-sponsored terrorism. That’s precisely why we see previously unknown groups like the Indian Mujahideen suddenly emerging on the scene. That’s also why they’re now busy urging militants in places like Assam to carry out terror strikes.’

  ‘That’s precisely the point I’ve been trying to make, sir,’ Vikram interrupted. ‘When the cops, the Intelligence Bureau and RAW have clear proof that the YPS and the Indian Mujahideen are two sides of the same coin, why don’t we just cut them down and put an end to all this?’

  ‘That’s assuming we know who they are. And even then, what you suggest is very simplistic, Vikram. Terrorism can never be resolved only by the application of military might.’

  ‘I beg your pardon, sir, but are you trying to say that we should just sit back and allow these crazy bastards to bomb innocent men, women and children whenever and wherever they choose to? Are you...’

  ‘No! That’s not what I am saying, but the fact remains that fighting terrorism calls for a well-defined offensive-defence, a definite counterinsurgency strategy and constant innovation by security forces. There is no single strategy that we can use to successfully combat it. Any strategy we adopt will have to be a use-and-throw one. In fact, in this battle, the winner will be the one who keeps the basics in mind, but innovates constantly.’

  Anbu paused momentarily, recognizing the need to drive home some ground realities to the young officers he commanded.

  ‘Diplomatically, we have to attack the terror sponsor states. Politically, we have to stop vote bank politics and ensure that economic development is equitable and addresses all sections of society. Our leadership has to work on the root causes of alienation, which allow terrorists to recruit and subvert easily swayed youth. We have to make sure that local support to the terrorists is cut off since without that, they’re dead in the ditch.’

  He raised his hand to prevent Tiwathia from interrupting.

  ‘On the intelligence front, we have to make sure we have our eyes and ears to the ground at all times so we can see an attack coming. Simultaneously, our security forces have to be ramped up to contain the attacks that get through because, despite all our efforts, some certainly will succeed. Militarily, we have to use force to cut down the attackers and force the terrorists to t
he negotiating table. And legally, we have to bring terrorists, their supporters and financers to book.’ There was another pause as Anbu allowed his words to sink in. ‘You see... it has to be a comprehensive package if we are to deal with this menace successfully.’

  ‘So, what I understand is that for us – the security forces – the main plank of the war on terror is good, timely intelligence.’

  ‘Bang on target! That is the key. As we all know, there are only three basic ways to gather intelligence – observe it, buy it or steal it. However, in such a fluid and geographically unconfined war, the way to get timely intelligence is either by subverting some terrorists and turning them into informers or sending in our own people to infiltrate the terror groups.’

  ‘I don’t know how easy it will be to subvert these crazies,’ said Tiwathia. ‘Most of them have been brainwashed so thoroughly that they can no longer differentiate right from wrong. I was going through the Al Qaeda recruitment manual the other day and it exhorted the recruiter to keep the recruit busy with lectures and religious pamphlets, especially those that discuss heaven and hell.’

  ‘Yes, the recruiter will always try to play on the aspects of Eternal Paradise or Eternal Damnation. This works especially well with new religious converts or those who are not very conversant with the scriptures and can be browbeaten easily. But there will always be people who have become disgruntled with the uncertainity of life as terrorists, or realized they are being misguided and misused in the name of religion... or someone who can simply be bought over with more money.’

  ‘But I thought these days the typical terror recruit is far more literate and savvy than before, when they were mostly poor, uneducated youngsters who had been lured in.’