The very next day, General Virk sent a message to Bibi Amrit Kaur. ‘We are not too far from your home. Even as the Pakistanis have raised white flags and are running like hares to Tashkent and the UN to save themselves, I want you to know that we have tried our best to not kill civilians. Your house is safe too.’ Bibi read the message repeatedly before placing the paper in the drawer. She sank into a chair and unintentionally went down memory lane. Her eyes were shut but images from that day flitted through her mind. She could hear the cries of her mother pleading with her father, ‘Don’t leave us alive, Balwant . . .’ Her screams were louder than the chants of the rioters who were banging on their entrance gate. They were shouting out aloud, ‘Kill the Kafirs . . .’

With some effort, she went to the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water. After wiping it dry, she stood in front of Guru Nanak’s picture with folded hands. Tears flowed freely down her pink cheeks. ‘I pardon them all, O Nanak. I want to avenge no one. Please end this war. Let every mother see her son alive. May good sense prevail everywhere!’

In September itself, a defeated Ayub Khan signed on the dotted line, timidly admitting defeat, which in turn brought an end to the bloody war. General Virk came home to a hero’s welcome and became a celebrity among his peers and seniors. However, he also began facing health issues. Due to his close proximity to the loud sounds of bombs going off, he became partially deaf. His lungs were badly affected due to excessive inhalation of gunpowder. And in addition to these were the injuries he had received due to the dam water hitting his tank with full force at Khem Karan.

In 1970, Virk took premature retirement from the army to focus on his health. Over the next two decades, Amrit and Virk shifted to the Valley and would walk from Allah Rakha’s home, where they had decided to stay, to the gurdwara every day. In 1993, Virk suffered a heart attack and died a week later, culminating four decades of his journey with an angel who had come into his life as a refugee.