‘Please don’t tell anyone what I tell you, sir. Not even my family. If they get to know, it will be a big issue, sir. My daughter-in-law is a Chinese girl. She secretly talks to Chinese-looking people. Unknown people. No one in our family knows about that. Only I have seen her. But I am scared to say anything. She is educated. She writes letters and passes them on to those people. I have seen this with my own eyes. Now, when our country is in danger, sir, it would be a crime if I didn’t inform you.’

Ali thought for a while and then looked at Minaram Baruah.

‘Can you give it to me in writing?’

‘Will I get into trouble, sir?’

‘Why would you? You are doing this for your country. These matters will not be made public. Don’t worry.’

Handing him paper and pen, Ali sat down in anticipation.

Eighteen

Eighteen

After Tawang and Jang, Se La also fell.

Today, in answer to a house adjournment motion and a call attention motion in the parliament, Nehru informed the house that Walong and Se La, important mountain passes in the Kameng frontier, have fallen to the Chinese. He also informed the house that, bypassing the Indian army, the Chinese troops have cut off the road connection to Bomdila, a strategically important place, eighty kilometres from Se La pass. He said that, although this is bad news, we are determined not to surrender. We shall keep fighting till the Chinese are ousted from our land.

‘Hey Tileswar, what kind of people have you arrested? I told you to arrest only the Chinese and not their local wives and their children. Why have you picked them all up?’ The voice of the officer-in-charge of the Doom Dooma police station subdued the voice of the newsreader on the radio.

Tileswar Baruah, the second officer, came and stood near the officer-in-charge.

‘What to do, sir, no way out. All are mixed up. It is very difficult to segregate. Whoever we could, we have left behind.’

‘What do you mean “mixed up”?’

‘A Chinese man has a local wife. His sons also have local wives. Whom to arrest and whom to leave behind? We have left their local wives. Few local women have come clinging to their husbands. Some of us brought them out of sympathy. There are some who even wanted to leave the Chinese behind.’

‘Okay. No need to criticize others. Call them one by one. I didn’t think there were so many Chinese here. It is really difficult to identify them as Chinese. Most of them don’t look Chinese at all.’

‘You have assigned me a very bad job, sir. It’s very difficult to pull people away from their loved ones. I might have sinned, sir.’