by AJAY
The terrorists slew the four crewmembers of 'Kuber' and forced the Captain, Amar Singh Solanki to navigate the vessel to Mumbai. Before disembarking in a rubber dinghy, a few miles from South Mumbai coast, they slit the captain's throat.
A scrutiny of the phone transcripts showed that the handlers in Pakistan had instructed the terrorists to kill everyone -- innocent people, political leaders, foreigners and celebrities. Two handlers were Pakistani Army Officers'Major Sameer and Sajid Mir-- who visited the control room regularly to ensure a smooth operation. The hardcore radicals goaded the young terrorists in Mumbai to gun down as many Jews as possible with their chilling message, "If you cut one Jew to pieces, it will be worth eliminating fifty people."
The other messages were quoted in Annexure-VII of the official dossier of the Home Ministry of India. Siddhartha Rana went through each line, word by word and encircled a few important ones.
At Taj Mahal Hotel, the first transcript:
A handler from Pakistan, "There are three Ministers and one Secretary of the Cabinet in your hotel. We don't know in which room."
One of the terrorists in Taj Mahal Hotel, "Oh! That is good news. It's the icing on the cake."
"Find them and then you can get whatever you want from India."
"Pray that we find them."
"Do one thing. Throw one or two grenades at the Navy and police teams, which are outside."
"Sorry. I simply can't make out where they are."
At Taj Mahal, the second transcript:
Another handler from Pakistan, "Are you setting the fire or not?"
The terrorist, "Not yet. I am getting a mattress ready for burning."
"What did you do to the dead body?"
"Left it behind."
"Did you not open the locks for the water below?"A reference to MV Kuber was made.
"No, they did not open the locks. We left it like that because we were in a hurry. We made a big mistake."
"What big mistake?"
"When we were getting into the boat, the waves were quite high. Another boat came. Everyone raised an alarm that the Navy had come. Everyone jumped out quickly. In this confusion, the satellite phone of Ismail got left behind."
At Nariman House, the first transcript:
From Pakistan, "Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige for Islam. Fight so that your fight becomes a shining example. Be strong in the name of Allah. You may feel tired or sleepy but the Commandos of Islam have left everything behind: their mothers, their fathers, their homes. Brother, you have to fight for the victory of Islam. Be strong."
However, one Pakistani cell number 0321-5023113 was baffling. Terrorists were in touch with an untraceable person. The SIM card was issued on a fake identity carrying the address -- G-9/2, Islamabad. Surprisingly, the call record showed that the phone kept shifting from one place to another in Pakistan during the Mumbai attack.
The FBI prepared a report and sent it to the Home Ministry in India. The Ministry sent it to the Director of IB for further analysis. The Director called up Siddhartha, "I'm sending you the email of the report received from the FBI. One number is worthy of note."
"Understood, sir. Will get back to you."
"What are you doing?"
"Sitting in a park."
"What for?"
"Waiting for the boy to rise and shine."
Smallest Machine
The Guinness Book Of World Records mentions that the smallest submarine was fabricated and assembled by Pierre Poulin of Canada having a displacement of six hundred kilos. In the year 2005, Poulin made a successful official dive in his submarine in the Quebec Lake.
The Tupac-II mastermind was not interested in anything that could attract media attention. Making contact with a man with a Guinness Record under his belt would be too dangerous.
A Russian from St. Petersburg, who had built a personal submarine and got it registered as a boat by the Russian Boat Registry was of greater interest to them. The submariner had planned to dive in the Gulf of Finland and remain underwater continuously for a week on his journey from Russia to Finland and back while attaining a maximum speed of eight knots. He claimed that his state-of-the-art submarine was quite silent as the battery driven motor, rotating the screw propeller, hardly produced any sound. He was certain that no sonar could detect her presence since she was truly a stealth machine.
Shalim Amār Khan approached the Russian and asked him to fabricate a completely new submarine that could carry a payload of five hundred kilos of underwater explosives. He wanted certain additional features like remote operation, contour mapping of underwater surface, and a robotic hand, which could place the payload at any desired location and a special feature to self-destruct at the destined time after it completes its work.
"I'll have to take permission from our Russian authorities as your specification does not fall under the 'Boat' category."The Russian was sceptical.
"We are not planning to get it registered."
"Sorry, gentleman. You've come to the wrong place."
"What if we pay half-a-million dollars in hard cash?"
"What if I get caught? I'll have to cough up more than a million dollars to the authorities?"The Russian laughed, "Russia is not cheap anymore."
"We'll take care of that situation."
"Why should I count on you?"
"You know the rebel group, the LTTE of Sri Lanka also assemble submarines at a very low cost."
"Those are just wet subs, my dear. They don't have navigation aids and hardly one in ten has ever resurfaced after filling its water ballast tank. They simply dive and sink forever. If you want to send your men to their watery graves, that's not a bad idea."
"Tell me how much do you want?"
"Two million dollars in hard cash. All upfront."
"How much time will you take?"
"A year."
Shalim Amār Khan promised delivery before nightfall. The two men shook hands. When Shalim Amār Khan left, the Russian poured out a large glass of vodka for himself and busied himself on the drawing board.
Sheep Meadows
Aban opened his eyes and found Siddhartha hanging up a call on his cell phone. "I want to call Ammi and Juhi."
"There are a few things that I want you to understand before you talk to them,"Siddhartha explained everything he knew and finally told him about the gruesome killing of Imran Shah Malik by an unknown Mujahedeen group, which had yet not claimed responsibility. The purpose of killing was also not known.
Tears welled up in Aban's eyes. "Ammi is alone. I want to go back to Lahore."
"I'm sorry, Aban. But, you can't go to Pakistan right away. The FBI will not allow you to leave USA. I've signed the undertaking, wherein it's mentioned that you need to seek permission from them before you make that move. I think your life may be in danger in Pakistan too."
"Why?"
"As per our understanding, your father worked for ISI and was close to Hafiz Saeed, the Chief of the LeT,"After a pregnant pause, Siddhartha continued, "We believed that he was close to al Qaeda too."
"He'd be the last person on earth to have any association with al Qaeda. He hated them."
"But try to appreciate the situation. By this time, the ISI and LeT are probably aware of your release by the FBI. As a result, you are double trouble for them."
"What should I do then?"he asked in a helpless voice.
"Listen to what I'm saying."Siddhartha explained about the image-password and the possibility of some key images in some removable media. "Unless we get the removable media, no one in this world can open that file. Therefore, I want you to go to Lahore and get that missing media."
"But you said the FBI won't allow me to leave USA."
"There could be a way out. Go back to college and complete your research paper. I'll return to India. But before that, I'll work out the details with the FBI and the Ambassador."
"Ambassador of Pakistan?"
"No. The Indian Ambassador."Siddhartha explain
ed everything that had to be done.
"I can't do this. It's too dangerous."
"Let me tell you one more fact. We have yet to unscramble the meaning of 'To Pak To'. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this weird phrase may put millions of lives in danger; where and how, we still have to figure out."
"What phrase did you say?"Aban asked.
"To Pak To."
"I've heard about Tupac-1 from my Abba. He hated President Zia-ul-Haq and his half-cooked Tupac programs."
"Tupac? Tupac-1?"Siddhartha wondered. "Oh! Now I understand. This 'To Pak To' is actually Tupac-II. The phonetic of this phrase 'To Pak To' and axiom 'Tupac-II' never struck us."
Aban listened.
"But why did your father hate President Zia-ul-Haq? We presumed that he was close to Zia."
"He was never close to the dictator. He could not stand Zia as Abba always believed in a democratic government. Ammi told me she still remembered how much Abba refused food for almost two days when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged. My father had always opposed military rule since the Army could never deal strategically with intricate political situations. He was sure that military rule, one day, would destroy our country."
"This appears paradoxical. Our intelligence has a completely different perception of Imran Shah Malik. They believe he masterminded the Kargil operation."
Aban laughed, "Indian intelligence has failed to notice a very important fact. After General Pervez Musharraf assumed power, the first casualty was no one, but Abba. I'll give you the reason. Perhaps, he was the only one, who could speak against the General and his military rule, even though he was holding the top position in the ISI at that time."
"He must have been an audaciously brave man."
"He was. And he always wanted me to be as brave as a lion."
"So, I think the lionhearted boy will accept my proposal."
"Let me think about it."
"There is no hurry. Take your time. But never ever mention this to anyone; not even to Juhi, and for that matter, to your Ammi."
Siddhartha wrote his secured cell phone number and handed it to Aban, "If you decide against my proposal, you may choose not to call me. If you are in, just send me a short message, 'Santa. Come home this Christmas'."
Aban nodded. "Can I talk to Ammi and Juhi now?"
"Why not? And now it's time for me to make a move."
Khalil Deek
One thing that bothered Shalim Amār Khan was the selection of explosives. He had watched many real video images of demolition of buildings and knew the potency of the powerful explosives C-4 and HNIW. The attractive name of Her Majesty's eXplosive (HMX) brought a smile to his lips. However, he knew from his vast experience that he had no chance of procuring it since military grade explosives was not available among his known contacts. Underground operators did not have sufficient quantities of these extremely regulated explosives.
As per international agreements, each and every explosive needs to have a detection taggant or marker, which should produce a distinctive vapour signature after a blast. In case of a terrorist blast, this vapour signature can be sniffed out by both dogs and specialized ion mobility spectrometers even if as little as 0.5 parts per billion is left as residue in the affected surrounding.
Shalim Amār Khan therefore ignored military explosives and turned his attention to others that could be as devastating as any of these if a proper technique was used. He knew that al Qaeda had already brought into play an explosive to bring down the Khobar Tower in Saudi Arabia. However, the blowout left behind telltale signs at the mise-en-scène and the investigating agencies could zero in on the source of the explosives. Hence, for Tupac-II, he would not use such things that would leave a signature for detection after destruction. He knew he could not take triumphant credit for his feat, when the time came.
A seven thousand-page guide, entitled Encyclopaedia of Jihad was recovered from the home of Khalil Said al-Deek, aka Joseph Adams, when the Jordanian Police arrested him. Enquiries conducted by the police revealed that he held dual US-Jordanian citizenship. He had gone to America to study computer science and having lived in Los Angeles for sufficiently long years, he became a naturalized US citizen and worked as a computer engineer. As a privileged American passport holder, he visited Peshawar in Pakistan several times without raising an eyebrow. There, he came in contact with Osama bin Laden, who encouraged him to learn explosives techniques to add to his specialized knowledge, thus creating a deadly cocktail.
After his arrest by Jordanian authorities, he was imprisoned for seventeen months on the charge that he had hatched a plot to bomb Queen Alia International Airport, Amman on the eve of the millennium. After a year-and-half, he was out of jail and promptly left Jordan for North Waziristan to meet Osama bin Laden.
Al Qaeda planted a story that they had killed Khalil Deek and his wife, who was expecting her fifth child. They cited the reason that Khalil Deek was a spy, working for the Jordanian Authorities. The Pakistani army and the ISI also claimed that he had been killed in a raid, but his body was never found.
Khalil Deek moved to the hidden caves in the Hindukush Mountains, in the safe-haven of the al Qaeda. Here he turned into an expert in bomb making. He could now turn a packet of cigarettes, chocolate bars, toothpaste and hairbrushes into deadly devices.
Naturally, Shalim Amār Khan contacted Khalil Deek, to complete project Tupac-II. After setting aside military grade explosives, Shalim Amār Khan discussed other alternatives with Khalil.
Khalil responded, "According to me, semtex is the best option."
Shalim Amār Khan nodded while Khalil Deek continued, "Remember what the investigator of the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 103 said in its official record, 'Only 312 grams of semtex tucked into a Toshiba cassette recorder felled the huge Boeing 747 like a winged mallard'. The beauty of semtex is that it looks like brick and feels like Play-Doh. You can roll it into any shape. And we should not forget the Vietnamese defeated the American's C-4 with the same semtex during the Vietnam War."
"That's right. In fact, two properties of semtex 1A are very important. It retains its elasticity even when subjected to a wide temperature range and it is waterproof. Thus, semtex is a perfect choice for an underwater blasting."
"But from where can we get it?"Khalil Deek was not sure of the current status of availability of semtex.
"As per my information, the Czech company Omnipol exported seven hundred tons of semtex to Libya. The President of Libya, Colonel Qaddafi supported every terrorist and radical organization: the PLO, Red Brigades, Black September and the Irish Republican Army. He sold semtex all across the globe: from Manila to Belfast and from Slovakia to Chile. But our safest bet lies with our most trusted friend in the Palestine Liberation Organization. I know where the PLO is hiding it."Shalim Amār Khan gave pinpointed information.
"But what about the detection signature?"
"The taggant agent was added to semtex only after 1991. All semtex produced before that is without any detection signature."
"When did Omnipol export semtex to Libya?"
"In late '70s and early '80s"
"So, the Omnipol explosives will not leave any signature."Khalil Deek sounded jubilant. "But the bomb will require other components too."
"True. And the good news is that you can buy the components from local supermarkets."
Khalil Deek nodded while Shalim Amār continued, " Tell me how much time will you take to assemble the product?"
"Less than a year."
"Terrific."A smile spread on Shalim Amār Khan's lips, "And semtex can be rolled into any shape."
"Absolutely. What shape do you want?"
"Fishes."
"Which one?"
"Hindustāni Hill trout and mahseer."
"I haven't heard of these species."
"Their Hill Trout is the Snow Trout and the mahseer is Hamilton type."
Khalil Deek grinned. "I'll paint the red bricks with the colour of these fishes. Just show me their pict
ures."
Part-II
Year 2009
Extradition
The official tenure of the Indian Ambassador in the USA came to an end. The new Ambassador joined just before Christmas. Juhi finished her under graduation, but did not enrol for a Master's.
The Boeing 777-200LR took off from Newark Liberty. She wondered when she would come back again to the land of opportunity. Had she taken the right decision at the most important juncture of her life? Would she ever meet Aban or were Aban and his memories, a dream she had left behind in the Cornell campus?
Juhi was jolted out of her reverie when the aircraft hit an air pocket. She wanted to remain in her dream, but that was not to be.
Back in Delhi, the Ambassador took up residence in Defence Colony, New Delhi. He was a busy man even after retirement. He played golf at the Delhi Golf Course, spent afternoons at the India Habitat Centre, and still found time to read the books of his favourite authors. Off and on, he would also be invited by different organizations as their Chief Guest. He also became a panellist on foreign affairs in a television channel.
Juhi associated herself with an NGO working for the UNEP sponsored 'Billion Tree Campaign'. Both Aban and Juhi kept in touch with each other, but both were busy with their work.
Aban wanted his Ammi to visit America, but every time she applied for a US Visa, the American Consulate in Pakistan rejected her application. Aban could not go to Pakistan until the FBI approved of his travel. Hands tied, he felt completely helpless. He would turn taciturn while talking to his mother on the phone and stare blankly into space. He felt helpless when she sobbed on the phone and whenever he received an email from her. Focusing on Academics became difficult. Even though he had to submit his research paper on 'Water resources system simulation' before the Christmas vacation, he just could not do it. His professor granted him a three-month extension and extended it once again for a fortnight, when he failed to meet the deadline. But it took almost six months of evaluation and constant improvement, before his professor finally approved the paper for publication.