‘Out of my theatre,’ said Hussein.
‘Hamid Khan is both brave and dangerous, if he did,’ said Song.
‘General Hamid Khan is a very great friend of China,’ said Tang, speaking in Chinese with simultaneous translation from the interpreter. He took a seat on the left-hand side of the two main chairs at the end of the room. The others arranged themselves around him while Hussein took out two sheets of paper, one in English and one in Chinese. He gave them to Song and Tang.
‘These are the details of the death of a man called Yahya,’ explained Jabbar. ‘He was a Saudi Arabian, living in Egypt, responsible for some of the worst attacks against Western and Asian tourists there. For the past six months he has been training fedayeen — that’s Arabic for commandos — to intensify the insurgency in Xinjiang. He was due in Central Asia himself next month. Four days ago, Yahya was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head at the entrance to his apartment block in the city of Asyut on the upper Nile.’ Jabbar paused, allowing his Chinese hosts to read the document. ‘As you know, the slums of Asyut are a breeding ground for this type of terrorist. Pakistani intelligence agents can infiltrate them.’
Hussein took up the explanation. ‘Our Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate has an influence far beyond our borders. Our reputation in some areas is comparable to that of Mossad — even more when it comes to the infiltration of extremist Islamic groups operating from Afghanistan and the Middle East. General Khan asked us to tell you personally and in the greatest confidence how Yahya was killed.’
The double doors at the end of the room opened and a woman appeared with a tray of tea. Hussein stopped talking and the room was silent apart from the rattling of the cups, until Tang barked an order that she should leave.
‘Hamid Khan ordered it himself,’ said Jabbar as the doors closed. He repeated it in Chinese for Tang and the security chief nodded.
‘He is a great friend of China,’ Tang repeated.
‘You are offering to help us with Xinjiang and Tibet?’ said Jamie Song. ‘And we’ll help you with India.’
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
‘India has officially disbanded the Special Frontier Force, whose commandos carried out the operation,’ said John Stopping. ‘The decision was apparently made before the attack on Dharamsala and Dixit is sticking with it.’
‘For which he should be applauded,’ said the Foreign Secretary. ‘But will it placate the Chinese?’
‘Beijing maintains the operation was ordered directly from Delhi. The Indians deny it and we believe them. We have reports of Chinese demonstrations outside Indian missions in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taiwan. We assume the protests have been sanctioned at the highest level of the Chinese government, but they also contain a spontaneous element.’
‘I thought that Taiwan and the mainland were enemies,’ said Baker.
‘Only in rhetoric,’ said Stopping. ‘It shows us that Tibet — or should I say anti-Tibetan sentiment — is a unifying factor in Chinese nationalism. American and Japanese satellites have identified Chinese troop movements towards the Indian border. Jamie Song, the Chinese Foreign Minister, has apparently told the German Ambassador in Beijing that they are restoring the Sino-Indian border defences to their 1996 levels.’
‘What does that mean?’ said Baker.
John Stopping deferred to Sir Malcolm Parton, who explained. ‘India and China agreed on mutual troop withdrawals from the border area in November 1996,’ said Sir Malcolm. ‘Since they fought the war in 1962, they had been near battle-ready. In 1993, they signed a treaty of “peace and tranquility”, then in 1996 President Jiang Zemin visited Delhi, and the two governments made a pledge that “neither side should use its military capability against the other”. Jiang Zemin spoke of India and China as “major powers in the world” which had “a common responsibility to the whole of human society” to develop themselves as quickly as possible.
‘When China withdrew the troops, it freed up about two hundred thousand Indian troops to fight in Kashmir, infuriating the Pakistanis. Their former Chief of Staff, Aslem Beg, even complained to the Chinese army. If the Chinese now reinforce that border — and it’s 2,500 miles long — India will have to pull troops back to China from its front with Pakistan.’
‘It appears, Foreign Secretary,’ said Stopping, ‘that China and Pakistan have cut a deal to squeeze India.’
Christopher Baker tapped his pen on the tabloid newspaper lying on his desk, the splashed headline blazing up about his extramarital affair with a Foreign Office interpreter. The Foreign Secretary stood up, taking his jacket off the back of his chair and slipping it on. ‘For God’s sake keep me informed on this one. I don’t want anything buried at the bottom of the boxes. If India has both Tibet and Kashmir to handle I suspect she will become a very dangerous animal indeed.’
Foreign Ministry, Beijing, China
Jamie Song waited until Teng Guo Feng, his Ambassador to Islamabad, was on the secure line, then picked up the receiver. ‘Did they receive the imagery?’
‘Khan himself was in the war room,’ said Teng. ‘Parliament is in emergency session, and Khan’s been summoned to the PM’s office.’
‘Good,’ said Jamie Song. ‘Speak to him now and tell him two things. Firstly, we are having some success in intercepts on the SIGINT from the Indian military command and will let him have them shortly. Secondly, advise him that if our support is to continue, he must follow closely your political advice on how he handles his accession to power. No witch-hunts. No revolution. No personality cults. No personal corruption. If China is to stay with him, he has to win international recognition and respect. Only then will he retain power.’
General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
‘The Prime Minister called,’ said Captain Masood softly, unwilling to disturb his boss’s train of thought.
‘Did he now?’ said General Hamid Khan. He remembered an afternoon less than a month before when protesters had marched on the Parliament building. The Prime Minister had demanded that Khan give the order to open fire with live ammunition. ‘We must teach them a lesson they will not forget,’ the Prime Minister had said.
‘Let us wait and see what happens, sir,’ Khan had patiently replied. The demonstrators delivered their petition and left peacefully.
‘What moral excuse would I have for obeying that instruction?’ Khan confided in Masood afterwards. ‘Pakistani soldiers are not going to protect the ruling classes by killing Pakistani people.’
Now, the Prime Minister seemed intent on interfering in military affairs again by demanding that Pakistan withdraw from the Kashmir conflict. If Khan agreed to that, the streets would run red with the blood of the forces of Islam on the rampage. Kashmir was the outlet for their aggression, yet the Prime Minister could not see it.
Khan picked up another phone and dialled the number himself for the Chief of Naval Staff, who was in Karachi. ‘I think the present government—’ he began.
The naval commander interrupted: ‘You need explain no more.’
He then spoke on the encrypted military line to the three-star generals in command of IV Corps in Lahore, X Corps in Rawalpindi and II Corps at the central military headquarters near Multan, known as the strike corps. He offered a face-to-face meeting with the Chief of Air Staff in Rawalpindi, but was asked to wait on the line. Then, without introduction, the voice of the air chief said: ‘No.’ The line went dead.