by AJAY
"What? Are you talking about explosives?"The Home Minister sounded jaded. "Powerful explosives can blow up the dam. Definitely not save it. Correct me if it's otherwise."
"Aban has something more in his MacBook. I've seen it and it is beyond anyone's imagination. I'll explain to you later, sir. Please trust me on this one and have this done."
"I'll have to talk to the Defence Minister. Let me correct myself. We need to brief the Prime Minister about this entirely baffling turn of events."
Flying from Chaklala
In the dead of night when everyone was asleep in Pakistan, the Dassault Falcon aircraft with two nuclear warheads took off from the Chaklala Air Defense Command in Rawalpindi.
After flying east for a hundred miles towards India, it suddenly turned to Lahore. A few miles before the city, the pilot ejected one of the bombs.
The parachute opened; the GPS calculated the position and fired a small booster rocket from the capsule. The parachute slowed down on its descent and the capsule floated into Anderoon Shehr, the walled city of Lahore. It dropped with a thud and five persons immediately surrounded the delivery from the sky. They carried it to a shop near Bhati Gate in a hand driven cart. They lifted the shutter and moved the bomb to an underground chamber.
The same aircraft turned northeast towards the tribal area of North Waziristan.
One of the Saabs AWACS aircrafts, flying near South Waziristan, picked up the signature of the Dassault Falcon. It immediately connected to the captain on the radio, directing him to return to the nearest Air Force Base.
When the captain ignored the instruction and bent the throttle instead, an F-16B took off from the Sargodha AFB, locked the target and fired the missile on the Dassault Falcon.
However, before the missile could hit the Dassault, the captain released the hatch opening without bothering to activate the parachute. The capsule carrying the nuclear bomb fell freely and hit the sand bed where the Domal River joined the Zhob River.
Except for a little tribal girl, no one saw anything unusual falling from the sky and none heard the sound of the deep impact.
The impact created a deep vertical depression, which was quickly filled by quick sand, concealing the deadly nuclear weapon in its womb.
Repentance
Shalim Amār Khan resurfaced from the lake after two hours. Khalil Deek was waiting for him, "We are getting late. We should initiate the pre-defined procedure within half an hour."
"I know, but a few important things need to be worked out first."Shalim Amār Khan walked towards his vehicle. The man's hands and legs were tied up and tapes sealed his mouth. Shalim Amār Khan asked one of his men to free him.
Sundaram Iyer fumed at Shalim Amār Khan, "This is what is expected from a Pakistani bastard."
"This is what I do to every traitor. A traitor has no nationality."
"Shut up. I did everything you told me to do. I even put my high-profile job at stake. Do you know how powerful the Joint Director of the CBI is?"
"That is why you are a traitor. Am I wrong?"
"So you were behind the cold blooded murders of the AIG, Somashekhar Rao and Parag Nanda?"
"Only you can answer this question. Why did you keep in touch with al Qaeda even though I asked you not to share anything with them? Why did you trust Saeed al Masri? I know the answer is money, money and money and nothing else."
"Do you know what will happen to you, if you do this to me?"
"Only He Knows."
"Are you hare-brained?"
"Hold your breath, Mr. Iyer. You'll need all the air in your lungs. It's your type, who has sold the world to the devil. Neither ideology nor faith drives your kind. You are simply a worshipper of Mammon."
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to repent."
"Repent for what?"
"No questions."Shalim Amār Khan walked away.
His men forced the semtex-lined jacket on to Sundaram Iyer.
"You can't do this to me. I'll get drowned. Be afraid of Allah."
"It will just be a spark, Mr. Iyer."
Part-III
The Prime Minister
The Home Minister visited Panchavati, the official residence of the Prime Minister of India at 7 Race Course Road. The Defence Minister, the Foreign Minister, National Security Advisor and Air Chief Marshal were already present.
The Minister explained the latest situation about the possible terrorist attack at the new location, Tehri. The Prime Minister said, "A few days back, I had a long talk with the PM of Pakistan. He is apprehensive that the al Qaeda is up to something big."
The Home Minister responded, "As per our intelligence source, the LeT and a few rogue elements of the ISI are also involved in this matter."
The Foreign Minister, who was a very seasoned politician, cut in, "It may have been true in the past, but the present democratic government of Pakistan does not approve of any hostile act against India."
The Defence Minister joined in, "What's your perception?"He turned to the Air Chief Marshal.
"I talked to our Army General. As per our military intelligence, the Pakistani army has not de-escalated the situation at the border, in spite of the flag meeting. Our Army General has been trying to contact his Pakistani counterpart but to no avail. Instead of strengthening their forces on the Afghanistan border, as the Americans would want them to, they are moving their forces to the Indo-Pak border."
The Principal Secretary walked inside the room, "Excuse me Mr. Prime Minister. But we seem to be on the brink of some grave danger. We have just received a courier, containing a DVD, entitled 'Save Hindustān if you can'. We ran the DVD before bringing the matter to your attention. It also says that a man from Tehri will contact you at 08:15 hours, exactly ten minutes from now. I think everyone should have a look at it."
"Can't we wait till our meeting is over?"
"I'm afraid not."
The Prime Minister nodded and the Principal Secretary switched on both the DVD player and a plasma TV. The video file began to run.
Shalim Amār Khan stood in the backdrop of a reservoir, surrounded by high mountains, "Adab, Mr. Prime Minister and the honourable members, watching this brief documentary. I won't take much of your valuable time and keep you in suspended animation. However, I'll ask you only two questions'What pleasure did you derive by liberating Bangladesh and who gave you the right to take away the pride of Pakistan? Try to find out the answers while you watch the next show. Open your eyes. This is not Sardar Sarovar, where you have been trying to find us. Look closely. I'm presenting Tehri Dam before the august audience."
The scene cut to disclaimer, which mentioned that the show was not real, but a realistic simulation of what would happen.
The text image of the disclaimer dissolved slowly and the beautiful and serene Tehri Reservoir appeared on the screen. A commentary described the catchment area, the reservoir, the two rivers Bhagirathi and Bhilangana, Tehri and Koteshwar Dam, Hydel Power Stations and the holy city of Deoprayag, Rishikesh and Haridwar.
The wave of the water in the reservoir started gaining height. A hill collapsed and the wave rose higher and higher. The bridge on the Bhilangana River collapsed without much ado. It hit the dam which crumbled like a coconut cookie.
A wall of water, several thousand feet in height, surged ahead, uprooting everything that came in its path. It gained more and more height and momentum as it traversed the narrow canyon. When it reached Deoprayag, the gigantic pressure of the wave pushed the water of Alaknanda River ten miles backwards. The small town of Deoprayag vanished from the map.
The water continued to travel in a zigzag canyon and hit Rishikesh. Within no time, all temples and buildings, even at high elevation were flattened out like pancakes. The wall of water carrying dense slurry, mud, trees, logs, gigantic boulders, bridges and entire buildings rumbled, tumbling forth with tremendous momentum before reaching Haridwar. As the water followed the zigzag path of the narrow canyon, the waters behind the wall turned
into rapidly moving vortices.
The scene cut sharply to the city of Haridwar.
Millions of people flocked at different Ghats to take a holy dip in the waters. The arterial road leading to Haridwar was jammed with incoming traffic for many miles while a sea of devotees covered the narrow by-lanes.
Suddenly, a half a kilometre high water wave, moving at great speed, overwhelmed the entire landscape. Nothing remained of the city, but a flat mud-plain.
The water oozed out devouring Saharanpur, Meerut, Muzzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, East Delhi, Hapur, Agra, Kanpur and many towns and cities one after the other. The fury of the river continued further to the major cities of Allahabad, Varanasi and Patna, uprooting every barrage, bridge and road in its life-quenching wake. It crushed Farraka Dam in West Bengal and the water diverted into two parts. One went to Bangladesh and the other to Kolkata.
The scene cut once again to show the after effects of the great deluge.
The wild water had carved out wide gullies and nullahs. It had stripped off the entire fertile topsoil, turning the place into a wasteland. At some places, the water logging in huge pools turned these places into permanent wetlands. Heavy boulders and stones, carried from the Himalayas, were dispersed all across the Gangetic Plain, as if some demon had lifted them off from the mountains and hurled them at the plains below. The gigantic vortices had dug several hundred feet deep wells. The entire place was in complete disarray. Order displaced by complete chaos. Health had given way to pestilence. The once incense-perfumed Ghats of the Ganga reeked of rotting man and matter. What seemed unchanged in this changed world order was the course of the River Ganges, which flowed unperturbed, though quiet.
The movie stopped and static frames popped out:
Death toll'Twenty Million,
Economic cost'3.5 trillion dollars,
Time to recover'Twenty years, or God only knows.
The movie restarted and Shalim Amār Khan made a reappearance, "Your Excellency, you must be wondering why I sent you a simulation before the real story, which will start exactly at 08:47. You will ask me a question, what do I want? Well I will answer the first one. I want you to get a feel of things to come, since many of you may not live to see it. As for the second question, "What do I want? The phone will ring in your room, Honourable Prime Minister. I'll answer your question then."
The phone rang just then. The Prime Minister picked it up, "What do you want?"
Assistant Commander
The NSG Commandos initiated Operation Cactus-II. Forty miles south east of Tehri Dam, they jumped from the rear cargo door of the Ilyushin II-76 Jet. A few dropped right into the valley, while the strong mountain winds pushed some of them further away. An hour later, all of them assembled at Molnau, about fourteen miles east of the Tehri Dam.
The Assistant Commander asked them to load their SIG weapons, the Laser Designator, the Advance Audio Communication Set, GPS device and other gadgets into the vehicle.
The vehicle crossed many hills and mountains and it took an hour to reach the left bank of the Tehri Reservoir. They got down half a mile before the dam and crawled over the mountain, overlooking the dam. They took their respective positions while the AC inspected the area with his binoculars. There was nothing to be suspicious about. He asked his commandos to descend the mountain and try to reach the dam and report thereafter.
Suddenly, his attention was drawn towards a helicopter, landing on the right side of the reservoir. He trained his binoculars once again.
Two men stepped out of the helicopter and ran towards the Dam. His Commandos locked the crosswire of their IMI Galil sniper on the two men. One of them said, "Sir, target engaged. Waiting for orders."
The AC raised his hand and increased the gain of his binocular, "Hold on. I think I know one of the men."He strained his brain, "Oh! He is Siddhartha Rana, the Joint Director of Intelligence Bureau. I met him during the meeting on the Mumbai attacks. But what the hell is he doing here?"
He got the answer, when his audio communication set caught a signal. "Listen very carefully, commander. I'm Siddhartha Rana on your communication line. I've orders for you from the Home Minister."
"What order, sir?"The AC was perplexed.
"We don't have to act in haste since the Government of India still doesn't know the purpose of the Jihadists."
"They have only one aim, Sir. They want to destroy India."
"Still hold your position. The Prime Minister of India is aware of the situation. He wants to negotiate. So, let's wait."
"But I need to send my men to the opposite side of the dam; the side where you are standing."
"Don't send them."Siddhartha thought for some time. "Is your unit carrying any Mini Remotely Operated Vehicles?"
"Yes, sir. We have very advanced Unmanned Ground Vehicle."
"Well, send one of them to the dam. And give me the frequency of your UGV. I want to listen to everything that goes on there."
The commando activated the UGV and placed it on the mountain slope. The UGV started to map the contours of the terrain. It descended the mountain slope, maneuvered onto the dam wall just above the surface of water, stopped to catch a human voice, rotated in the direction of the sound and finally, climbed the wall two feet below the edge. The actuator became active and an optical fibre cable slid out. The sound receiver at the end of the cable started to catch a conversation.
"What are you listening to?"a soft female voice came from the back.
"How did you find us, Juhi?"Aban whirled around astonished.
"The heart has its ways that reason does not know."
Demand
"I want peace between Pakistan and Hindustān,"Shalim Amār Khan said in a very soft tone.
The Prime Minister of India was surprised. "We also want permanent peace with all our neighbours including Pakistan."
"Aha! Permanent peace!"Shalim Amār Khan laughed and then quickly changed his tone to a stentorian voice, "Mr. Prime Minister, my apologies. But your country has never done anything to establish permanent peace with Pakistan."
"We have tried a lot and are still doing enough to thaw the ice."
"Don't play a cat and mouse game. Give us permanent peace. Give our people peace."
"What do you propose?"
"Plebiscite!"
"What?"
"Don't shut your eyes and ears, Mr. Prime Minister. You know as well as I do what plebiscite is. I want the people of Kashmir to decide their destiny. A plebiscite in Kashmir is my demand."
"Try to understand. It's too complicated. We followed the Simla agreement in the right spirit. Unfortunately Pakistan never did."
"I know what your agreement did to us. I know what it did to me."
"Listen…"
"No questions. Call a press conference and declare that in view of international peace and for the cherished brotherhood with Pakistan, Hindustān will hold plebiscite in Kashmir within a month from today."
"It's not possible to take such an important decision without talking to my cabinet colleagues, the Leader of the Opposition and other political parties. We have to take Parliament and our people into confidence. As on today, no one will agree to your proposal."
"Forget about the others. Do you agree?"
"I don't."
"Stop me if you can. Stop a small seiche from turning into a giant."
"Listen, please."
"No questions."The line went dead.
Initiation
Siddhartha, Aban and Juhi listened to the tense conversation between Shalim Amār Khan and the Prime Minister.
Aban turned to Juhi thoughtfully and repeated the phrase, "No questions."
"What?"
"I'm disturbed with the repetition of the phrase 'No questions'."
"It's very common in our part of the continent."
"I know. Still…"Aban was thinking aloud, "Can he be? But the voice is so different. How could he?"
Suddenly a thunderous explosion shook the earth. The semtex in the four diversi
on tunnels removed the sealing cap. The water rushed inside. The second explosion in the tunnel pushed the water outward towards the lake. The harmless seiche of the lake, swaying in tranquility now gained momentum.
"Oh God! He has initiated his operation!,"Siddhartha broke into a cold sweat. "Who can stop him now?"
"But where is he?"Aban was frightened and very anxious.
Siddhartha trained his binoculars and pointed his hand. "He is there, standing on the dam, holding something like a remote control device."
Aban looked at the dam. He asked Siddhartha to lend him his binoculars, "I want to see who he is."
The underwater wave surged ahead and reached a small hill on the far side of the dam. Another explosion on the hill shook the earth. The hill crumbled and a huge mass of earth, forest, timber, logs and a small CISF booth fell into the reservoir.
"Look at the wave approaching the dam. It's almost a thirty feet tall wall of water."Juhi shouted.
Aban continued to look at the tall man, "No. It can't be. It's impossible. He looks so different."He blurted out, adding to the general confusion.
The AC of the NSG contacted Siddhartha, "Sir, we've engaged the target. If we don't act now, this dam will not stand the waves."
"Hold on for a second."Siddhartha turned to Aban and told him that the AC wanted orders to shoot the man standing on the dam.
Aban responded, "This wave can do no harm. The dam can sustain much bigger impacts."
"But if he fires more explosives, the wave will go on increasing."
"Try to understand. They are prepared. They made an exact mathematical model and have done a perfect simulation of the destruction. They are not fools. I believe the whole process must be automated now. Killing him may be counterproductive, because if he dies, we will never be able to stop the catastrophe. He has to live. Only he knows how to abort what he has initiated."