‘One is a US-built Patton tank that the Indian Army seized from a defeated Pakistani battalion in Rajasthan during the 1965 war. It is on display in front of the museum building.’

‘And on the ground floor, inside a glass case, is the personal service revolver of former Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi of the Pakistan army, who lost the 1971 war in East Pakistan. He had handed over his weapon to India’s Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora.’

‘They have preserved our shame in that museum. Destroy that structure if you get the chance,’ Al-Wali exhorted the two men.

‘You have a month to prepare – 11 February 2006 is when the IMA should be drowned in Indian blood,’ Al-Wali said, wrapping up the meeting.

He then stood up and left the flat, accompanied by four bodyguards, who were trained LeT operatives stationed at the safehouses in Kathmandu.

The chosen date, 11 February, Babar remembered, would be the twenty-second death anniversary of Kashmiri pro-independence leader Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 1984. He smiled grimly.

49. DEHRADUN

49

DEHRADUN

After Al-Wali left the safehouse, Babar told Atharv that the fate of the IMA mission depended on the latter and that therefore he could not let him screw up.

‘Wherever you are otherwise stationed – and I will not ask you anything about that as per the LeT code of conduct – you will not go back there till the mission is over. Do not call any of your associates, acquaintances or friends. Speak to none about what we heard here today. Tell your family, if there is one, that you will be away on work for over a month.’

Atharv merely nodded.

‘We will create three separate email IDs to communicate. Each of them will be created before a specific job and, once that job is performed, the email account is to be shut down.

‘The first email account will be used to communicate regarding the procuring and setting up of weapons for the IMA attack. The second will be for stationing the four suicide attackers, who will be sent to Dehradun from Pakistan. And the third will be used to update each other once the operation is complete. Understood?’

‘Yes,’ said Atharv.

‘Good. Now note down the codes we will be using for the mission. Then, memorize them, burn the paper and flush it down the toilet. The codes are as follows: “language course” is the code for reconnaissance, “project file” refers to weapons, “USB drives” is for the four fidayeen, “visa registration” signifies the attack on IMA, “Rohit” is for the one who will receive the weapons, “Abhilash” refers to the weapons carrier, and “Kushal” is the one who will provide the weapons,’ Babar said.

‘You will use your Indian ID documents, just in case, though no one will ask you on the Indo-Nepal border checkpoint at Jogbani. You know what you have to do to set yourself up in Dehradun,’ Babar said. ‘Your vehicle is ready with the material.’