Qasim Zaid heard him patiently. Then with folded hands he said, ‘I have learnt that Allah is but the only truth. He’s the doer and has no shape or size. He was never born and he will never die. He’s omnipresent. And we are all his creation. To us, our mother represents that God. Now why he made our mother Sikh and us Muslim, we don’t know; and it really doesn’t matter. We have suffered for the past six decades. We have been praying to Allahtala to bless us with at least one meeting. Our father passed away recently. But till his last breath, he hoped to meet his beloved wife, told us to never give up. And now, by Allah’s blessings, we have found her. Only you can help us. So we beg you to help us get her a visa for Pakistan. She is old, frail and not in good health. Please, help us, please.’

Mushtaq was amazed to witness such love. He called out to the peon, who came running in and said, ‘Please take these gentlemen to Faheem Akhtar. Ask him to speak to me.’

‘Jee, Huzoor!’ the peon answered, and respectfully escorted them towards the door.

As soon as they left, Mushtaq picked up the intercom and impatiently waited for a response from the other end. ‘Jee, Janab,’ came the response.

‘You must answer the phone quickly,’ Mushtaq rebuked his personal assistant and then said, ‘I have sent you two people. Deal with them. See what they can pay and talk to me before you finalize the deal. Understood?’

‘Jee, Janab.’ His words echoed in Mushtaq’s ears as he placed the receiver and murmured to himself, ‘Not a bad start to the day,’ and rang the bell again. ‘Send the next person in,’ he ordered and began looking at his files.

15

Sitting on a cushioned green leather chair, Faheem looked at his two prospective clients and tried to analyse their financial worth. He meticulously took down all the passport details of Bibi Amrit Kaur and began his standard monologue where he tried to show off by dropping names. ‘You see, Qasim Bhai, normally the minister does not interfere in the matters related to the ministry of external affairs. He is obviously touched by your story and wants to help. But, as you know, the external ministry wouldn’t even look at such matters without some consideration. In my opinion, for five lakh rupees, they can be made to agree to grant a month-long visa to your mother . . .’ He stopped and looked at the two brothers for their reaction.