‘The Hindu is wrong,’ growled Chandra Reddy, ‘and now is not the right climate in which to start.’
‘What they are saying,’ pressed Purie, ‘is that if we want a normal relationship with China, which would include secure borders, trade, equal punching weight on the global stage, we have to sort out Tibet. We could begin by guaranteeing cooperation on sealing the border and checking on infiltration, rather like the Irish government agreed with Britain over Northern Ireland.’
‘Then every time someone slips through, we are blamed for conspiring,’ said the Chief of Army Staff, Unni Khrishnan. ‘With all due respect, we would be creating a diplomatic nightmare.’
‘And what about Togden?’ said Dixit.
‘If they haven’t caught him by now, I suspect the SFF will get him out,’ said Reddy.
‘I suggest we hand him over to a third government,’ said Purie.
‘Isn’t that playing it too safe?’ said Dixit. He picked up the Pioneer, glanced at its populist front page, tossed it back on the table, then paced back and forth at the end of the room. ‘The Chinese are going to bleed this for everything they can. If we give an inch now, before they even begin to cut us up, we will be left with nothing. It was a cock-up, not a conspiracy, but you can be sure they will treat it as the latter.
‘There is also a wider element, of values, democracy and where India is heading as a society and as a country. Correct me if I am wrong, but Lundrup Togden is an innocent man. He is a monk. A man of God. He should not have been in prison. The Chinese run a repressive regime in Tibet which is condemned by the democratic world. Therefore, should he choose to seek sanctuary in India, we have no choice but to give it to him and damn the consequences.’
‘Even without him,’ said Reddy quietly, ‘I think the consequences have already begun.’ He withdrew a number of folders from his briefcase, each marked in black felt pen. ‘These are satellite pictures from overnight, some courtesy of the Americans, some courtesy of Indian technology,’ he explained. ‘They show irregular movements of men and equipment towards our border.’
The members of the National Security Council were on their feet, leaning over the photographs spread out on the table. ‘This is in the west. The circled area is a leftover from the 1962 war on the Thag La Ridge where invasion began. The land is claimed by us, but is under Chinese control and is technically a demilitarized zone.’ He brought out three more pictures. ‘This is a closer image of the town of Qizl Jilga, and this, gentlemen, is a fleet of helicopters flying in at around 0300 hours this morning.’
Reddy pointed to another. ‘The town of Zanda is only two hundred kilometres from Dehra Dun. This is unmistakably a column of armour. These look like 155mm artillery guns, but I am getting confirmation. This photograph is of an army barracks just outside the town of Garyarsa from where a mountain road leads directly to Namgia just across the border.’
He turned to another envelope. ‘This file is even more interesting. The formations you see here are infantry. The image next to them is of a troop transport plane. The town is Mazar, in Chinese territory, but worryingly close to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and only four hundred kilometres from Srinagar. This is not the terrain for tanks, but here and here you will see armoured build-ups, north of the Sikkim border, along the Indus Valley at Demchok and at Chusul in Ladakh.’
‘One would have thought they were preparing for this,’ said Dixit.
‘So far,’ said Reddy, ‘it seems they are using their reserve supply of border forces. We have no evidence that any reinforcements are being brought in from outside the area.’ He opened the last file on the table. ‘Now we move more than six hundred and fifty kilometres to our eastern flank. These are similar sort of activities, here around the town of Lhunze and here near Nyingchi.’
Reddy unfolded a larger map of the area, showing the locations of the two Chinese towns. ‘They are here and here. This is the border with Arunachal Pradesh and it’s only about two hundred and forty kilometres across until you get to Burma, a staunch ally of China’s and no friend of ours. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own sovereign territory. Only six months ago the New China News Agency said it had a “sacred mission” to reclaim it, as it has with Taiwan. We only officially created the state in 1986 and during 1986 and 1987, after a stand-off with the Chinese we moved our forces closer to the border.’
‘If I might add,’ said Purie, so softly that he was barely audible, ‘we have an enormously strong advantage over Pakistan. With China, I am not so sure.’
‘Go on,’ said the Prime Minister.
‘If we make it clear immediately that we have every intention of going to war with Pakistan if necessary, we will have complete international backing. True, we are a democracy, and they are now a military dictatorship. But the reality is more than that. In diplomatic circles it is known as the Tiananmen effect, drawn from the Chinese killings of democracy protesters in China in 1989. No major power will risk its overall relationship with India because of Kashmir. We are simply too big. That is not, however, the case with Pakistan, particularly since Khan himself has indicated the pariah characteristics of his own government. If it comes to the brink, Pakistan will be left to swing in the wind.’
‘But China?’ said Dixit.
‘While we threaten to demolish Pakistan, Prime Minister, you get on a plane to make a visit of peace to China.’
The White House, Washington, DC
Tom Bloodworth rang to ask for a meeting with the President and was let straight in to the private office.
‘Could you spend five minutes reading this transcript, sir. It explains why Hamid Khan took power with such confidence. It was sent to me personally from General Shigehiko Ogawa, head of Japanese intelligence.’
John Hastings looked up impatiently, irritated that crises in far-off lands were drawing him away from domestic agenda. ‘Not if it’s to do with the coup in Pakistan, Tom,’ he replied.
‘It’s more than that, sir.’
Bloodworth handed the President a copy of the transcript and kept one himself. ‘Jabbar is Pakistan’s Ambassador to Beijing,’ explained Bloodworth. ‘Hussein is the Diplomatic Attaché. Dr Malik Khalid is an eccentric and brilliant missile physicist from Quaid Azam University in Islamabad, and now the predominant figure involved in the missile programme against India. He flew to Beijing on instructions from Hamid Khan thirty-six hours ago — before the coup. Tang Siju is one of the most powerful hawkish generals in charge of strategic planning. Tao Jian is marked in the transcript just as President and General Leung Liyin is the Defence Minister. You’ll see there were others present, but we don’t have an identification on them.
‘The meeting took place in an office off the war room in the General Staff Headquarters, an underground bunker in the Western Hills just outside of Beijing. The verbatim transcription is from the interpreter’s own notes. The non sequiturs and gaps are where the interpreter couldn’t remember the true record of conversation.’
They began reading through in silence and Hastings had to admit to himself that it was a remarkable piece of intelligence gathering.
Jabbar: You ask why? India must understand once and for all that the threats to our existence must stop.
President: And you want us to give you practical help. Perhaps, Ambassador, for the benefit of those who were not with us earlier in Zhongnanhai, you could explain the thinking behind your policy.
Jabbar: We are aware that Tibet could within days, even hours, become a flashpoint. Diplomatically it is your weakest area of policy. You also have the other vulnerability in the far-western Muslim region of Xinjiang, which has suffered a spate of bombings and riots. Islamic unrest on your western borders and a terrorist campaign in Tibet is your nightmare scenario. It would suck your resources away from development and the economy, wreck your nurtured friendships with the Western democracies and throw China itself into a separatist war.