1200 Hours
Somewhere in India
The request for a telephonic meeting from the Chinese had come in just a few minutes earlier. If he was surprised by the event, defence minister Angad showed no indication of it. Now he waited surrounded by few of his advisers and military officers as the call was connected and voice of Chinese President Lin poured out of the phone’s speaker. President Lin unlike most of his predecessors, spoke good English making the job of a translator completely unnecessary. After some very brief and tense greetings, the two men came directly to the point. First salvo was fired by Chinese, “Mr. DM, I’ve personally followed your career graph very closely and I know it for a fact that you are a pragmatic nationalist. You do realise the enormous cost that our countries will have to pay if the current situation deteriorates in to a full scale war. Then why have you attacked our assets without any provocation ?”
DM replied, “ Mr Lin, don’t you think that a sneak unprovoked nuclear attack on my country that killed 50000 people in a matter of minutes is a grave enough provocation ? Nations have gone to war on much less. “
Lin protested incredulously, “But the attack was carried out by Pakistan ! You’ve already had your revenge. There is no excuse for you to pick up a fight with us.“
DM was silent for a while. “Yes you slimy lizard. Keep on shouting that you had nothing to do with it. Let’s see how you explain what we are releasing to the world.” Outwardly he replied, “Well, for starters, how about we having concrete proof that it was your people who manufactured, transported and launched 2 nuclear tipped missiles at us.”
Lin cleared his throat uneasily, “I’ll be honest with you. It’s not exactly a secret where most of Pakistan’s weapons come from. But what they do with them is entirely their prerogative. We can’t be held responsible for what they do with it. We have absolutely no control over anything outside our territory.“
DM smirked as he sniffed his quarry walking in to a trap of his own making, “ I’m sorry to contradict you Mr. President, but Pakistanis don’t seem to agree. Ah, why are we wasting time on verbal sparring when I have the proof straight from the horse’s mouth. Would you please wait for a few seconds.” He put the phone on silent mode and signaled his aides to play the captured conversation between General Hu and the senior CPC member. Once the player was ready, he spoke again, “Sorry for keeping you waiting, but before talking further, I’d like you to listen to this recorded conversation.”
For next few minutes, Chinese President listened to the recording with absolute silence which extended for a few uncomfortable moments after it was over. DM took the cue and broke the silence himself. “I don’t expect you to personally recognise the voice of General Hu, your senior most intelligence officer in Pakistan. But I’ll be more than just surprised if you don’t recognise the other voice. You hear him almost every working day of yours. Hundreds of millions of your Chinese citizens see his face on TV almost daily.”
When Chinese pres spoke again, the usual slight hint of arrogance was missing in his voice, “That could be a frame up by Pakis.”
Indian DM snorted bitterly, “A frame up by Pakistanis to get themselves annihilated ? This conversation leaves absolutely no doubt that your CPC and PLA planned and execute whole of this infernal operation. “
Chinese pres cut him angrily, “Xedong isn’t the whole of CPC, Mr. DM. He is just a single member.”
DM retorted, “But that single man is the senior most member of CPC, ranking just marginally behind your nephew, who just happens to be your most likely successor for the post of Chinese president two years from now. Don’t you honestly think that it’s too much of a coincidence ?“
The reply was just the same, “I still believe that it’s a conspiracy against us by a single isolated element. “
“ No Sir. The conspirators were Chinese and it’s us who had to pay the price. I absolutely refuse to believe that anything of this scale can be planned and executed without implicit knowledge and approval of numerous senior CPC and PLA officials . We have more than just circumstantial evidence to back up our claims. We have testimony of the Chinese personnel captured from your submarine as well as Gilgit from Pak Occupied Kashmir. ” DM paused for a moment anticipating a reply from the Chinese but when none came, he continued, “You can’t refute their testimony as well as the pictures of two nuclear tipped ICBMs that we captured from Gilgit.”
Indian DM’s monologue was interrupted by excited voice of Chinese pres, “You captured what from Gilgit ?”
It was the turn of DM Angad to be surprised. “Is the smartass playing with me or what ?” Glancing at his aide, who looked more bemused than surprised he shrugged imperceptibly and said cautiously, “Two Chinese DF-21 ballistic missiles each armed with 100 KT Pluonium based warhead. Along with 11 technicians and 91 soldiers belonging to PLA’s 811 Missile Brigade.”
Chinese Pres was furious instantly, “You’ve captured our missiles and men from Pakistan too ?”
DM replied in same tone, “All of J&K;, including Gilgit and Aksai Chin is Indian territory. If you ever had any doubts or counter claims, clear them now. All of Pakistan occupied Kashmir is now under our control. You Chinese had no business bringing your men and missiles in Gilgit, even if it was under Pakistani control.”
Angad could hear Lin gnashing his teeth on the phone line in self-righteous anger, “But it was under Pakistani control Chinese couldn’t have been there with their approval.”
Angad was beginning to enjoy the conversation, “Well, that still doesn’t shed any light on why’d you send two nuclear missiles to Pakistan in violation of all international treaties and rules. Were they stolen by Pakis or what ? God forbid if these missile fall in hands of Uighurs or Tibetan nationalists. With so much chaos, anything is possible. Don’t you agree ?”
Chinese pres was incredulous, “ Is it nuclear blackmail ?”
All traces of diplomatic civility vanished from the conversation, Angad replied with a hard edge in his voice, “ Think of it what you want Mr. President. We’ve already suffered a unprovoked nuclear attack. Pakistan was just your pawn. None of us will rest until we have our revenge.”
Chinese Pres almost shrieked, “But this is madness.”
“Nuclear deterrence is called MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) for this very reason. We’ll take hits, but you’ll not escape unscathed either.”
Lin changed his tone all of a sudden, “ Listen Mr Angad. I’m the President of China and all of this was done without my knowledge or approval. An unwanted war is not in any body’s interest, except the conspirators who planned all this.”
Angad replied coldly, “You do realise that it’s no time to play games Mr. President or act innocent. ”
Chinese pres protested weakly, “I’m not playing games. All this was done without my knowledge. I never planned or approved any such operation. “
People present in the Indian side exchanged confused glances. If Chinese president was indeed telling the truth, it was much stranger than the reality. DM Angad looked at the confused faces and answered, “I don’t have anything except your word for it and I hope that you will understand my predicament. I can’t just act based on your personal promises when lives of billions are at stake.”
Chinese Pres took a deep breath and replied, “I completely understand and I also want these tensions to end. None of us want a completely unnecessary war at this time. Economy of both of our nations will be set back by decades if this thing gets out of hand.”
Indian DM replied , “ There’s more on stake than just economy.”
“True.” Lin conceded.”I’ll do everything in my power to stop this madness. You’ve done whole world a great favour by showing me the real face of some of my compatriots. I’d like to return the favour by declaring a unilateral cease fire and cessation of all hostilities.”
DM was blunt in his reply, “I’d like to trust you on this Mr. President, but owing to events that transpired earlier, any such offer will be meaningless until we see some real result on ground as well as your government and military.”
Under different conditions, Chinese would have considered such response to be a major insult, but things were indeed different. “I understand it quite well. Still, I reiterate my statement. I hope a more lasting peace agreement will be reached between us as soon as I am finished with what I intend doing to Xedong and his associates. Goodbye.”
With this, the conversation between leaders of two warring nation came to an end. DM cut the call and looked at the small group present in the room. “Well. What should I make of it ?”