The second half of the Daura-e-Khaas course was conducted at an ISI facility at Marwah in Pakistani Punjab. It included an added emphasis on weapons handling and reconnaissance. The trainees were exposed to military-grade weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs); 60 mm, 90 mm and 120 mm mortar; hand grenades; land mines; anti-tank mines and claymore mines; Russian sniper rifles such as the Draganov; and anti-aircraft guns. The trainers gave extensive live training in firing AK-47s, anti-aircraft guns, heavy and light machine guns and RPGs.

Of the seventy trainees who had come to Aqsa Maaskar from Abdulla Maaskar, forty-five passed the tough Daura-e-Khaas course, including the CTC squad members. Atharv sustained a bullet injury in his right shoulder during one of the ‘live’ mock drills.

The covert CTC operatives were then told they needed to report back to the LeT’s top-tier leadership in Islamabad. They had to meet Umar-Qama, Abu-Muzammil and Abu-Lakhvi.

‘The time of reckoning has come. They want to evaluate us one last time before deploying us as their resources in India,’ Atharv told Anant.

38. SAFFRON MILK AND A GAME OF CHESS

38

SAFFRON MILK AND A GAME OF CHESS

Tucked behind dense thickets and adjoining the ruins of a seventeenth-century serai, or travellers’ lodge, the Firdaus Masjid in Islamabad was small in size but not in fame. It was built in allegiance to the all-mighty Mughal Empire in Delhi. Tourists flocked to the mosque and the serai three days a week: Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the complex attracted the faithful, who would come to offer prayers, especially on special occasions.

The mosque, which was smaller than most other mosques in Islamabad, rose thirty feet from the ground and was conspicuous by its perfectly circular dome. It was built on an elevated stone base that was square in shape and measured fifty feet on all sides. It was 8 p.m. on a Tuesday night and pitch dark. Thanks to the three electric poles erected inside, however, the mosque complex was bathed in a pale, milky-white light.

Standing in front of the seventeenth-century mosque, Atharv could see through the tall arched front entrance and the three other successive arched entrances that got progressively smaller.

Five hours ago, when Atharv and his comrades from the CTC were on their way to Islamabad from Muzaffarabad, Hamza had blurted out their destination. ‘We are going to Firdaus Masjid to offer prayers for two Lashkar martyrs,’ he had said.

The funeral prayer was to be offered in absentia as the men had died far from their homeland and their bodies were not present. Hamza had also told them that Abu-Lakhvi, LeT’s operational commander, would be at the mosque that evening to oversee the performance of the funeral rites for the two suicide attackers. They had died during an exchange of fire with the Special Operations Cell (SOC) in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir.