A few minutes later, his thoughts wandered back to his last three operations, all of which had ended in failure. Six fidayeen had been gunned down. Four, including the IIS&T attacker Rehmat, were in the custody of the Maharashtra ATCS, along with a weapons stockpile that could have enabled at least ten more attacks in India against its security forces and VIPs. He would have to face the wrath of Abu-Lakhvi. Babar panicked at the thought.

‘How did the Maharashtra ATCS come to know of our consignment’s entry into Maharashtra via the Bhilad check post?’ Abu-Lakhvi asked sharply. His forehead was creased and his eyes were bloodshot.

‘The checkpoint is located at a major gateway between Maharashtra and Gujarat and is a sensitive spot as far as the entry and exit of suspicious persons and consignments are concerned,’ Babar said without flinching.

‘But why was the ATCS, an anti-terror force, monitoring the check post? I can understand if it was just a police team,’ Abu-Lakhvi said.

‘I have heard that ATCS is also tasked with intercepting narcotics and counterfeit currency,’ Babar said. ‘Also, the consignment was handed over by Saqlain’s unit in Kashmir, and we don’t know if they are under surveillance, which could have led to the bust at Bhilad. Perhaps men and material leaving Kashmir are under routine surveillance.’

‘You could have a point there,’ Abu-Lakhvi conceded. ‘I have alerted Saqlain to see if there is a black sheep in our tanzeem in Kashmir, or if we are being tracked at some level unknowingly.’

Abu-Lakhvi was meeting with Babar at Lashkar’s Clifton safehouse in Defence Colony in Karachi.

‘Abu-Muzammil, see if we can move men and material into India’s hinterland from other transit points instead of Jammu and Kashmir, which is crawling with Indian spies and security personnel,’ Abu-Lakhvi instructed. ‘Could it be that there is a breach elsewhere? Abu-Muzammil? Babar? Al-Wali?’ he mused.

Abu-Lakhvi was worried and livid at the latest failures. Four Pakistani LeT operatives were in the custody of the ATCS in Mumbai after being caught with a massive cache of arms, ammunition and explosives. The only other such instance, Abu-Lakhvi had been reminded by his ISI handler, Lieutenant General Shah, was after the 1993 Bombay serial blasts, when 1,500 kilos of RDX had been seized. The 1993 consignment was part of the stock that had been shipped to Bombay from Karachi by the ISI and a smugglers’ cartel in the wake of the demolition of Babri Masjid.

‘How have the Indian recruits been in the field? Is there any reason to doubt their commitment to LeT and Pakistan?’ Abu-Lakhvi asked.