“So we are going behind the lines,” Vik noted.
“Yup. So get everybody kitted out accordingly. The fly-boys from Delta will deploy us from the west. Fast, low and at night.”
“Yeah, that sounds like real fun,” Vik sighed.
“Are they insane?” Chakri exclaimed as he heard what the Indian UN Ambassador had to say about the latest rounds of negotiations in New-York. The Prime-Minister was still in thought so he continued:
“The whole world saw on live television that they started this war by attacking our capital city and military bases with missiles. And they still propagate the idea that somehow we are responsible for precipitating their actions? How thick can they get?”
“Sometimes it works to your advantage to believe your own lies,” Ravoof said from across the room. “It makes you more confident in front of the world.”
The Ambassador nodded on the teleconference screen.
“Indeed. And their contention, true or not, is that our support for the Tibetan rebels and their fight against the Chinese in Tibet is what precipitated their response. They claim we had our special-forces units deployed inside Tibet to assist the Tibetans and that we had training camps on our soil for arming and equipping these so-called rebels.”
The Prime-Minister finally stepped into the conversation as he looked over to Chakri and the NSA, sitting side by side: “Is this true?”
“Does it matter?” Chakri replied instantly with a frown.
“Yes it does!” the PM threw back at Chakri. “Our policy in front of the world has always been to not provide the Tibetans with anything other than moral support and a place to stay! If the Chinese claims are substantiated on our side, the entire world will leave our side and go back to sitting on the benches again. Can you imagine what the results of that would be?!”
“I think at this point our policy should have more to do with defeating China on the battlefield and for the Tibetans to whom we have a duty to help after what Beijing has done in their homeland for the past year! If the White-House or Downing-Street wants to sit on the fence because of their moral objections, I really don’t give a damn! Russia is still by our side and we are buying a lot of emergency supply of arms and ammunition from them. And they don’t particularly care one way or another whether we assisted the Tibetans or not!” Chakri shouted back as others in the room tried to intervene.
“I think you just confirmed that we did in fact help the Tibetans,” Ravoof observed silently.
Chakri dismissed the observation: “Believe whatever you want.”
“Oh god! Are you saying that we started this war? That Beijing was right all this time and we were involved in Tibet?” the PM said in shock.
“And it was long overdue if you ask me,” the Home-Minister added.
The PM was shocked to hear all of this from his two senior ministers.
“How dare you?!” he said finally. “You created your own operations outside the realm of what this government’s policies were and precipitated this war! If your men hadn’t entered Tibet then we would not be in this situation right now!” the PM pounded the table.
“How dare I?” Chakri shouted back. “May I remind you of Beijing’s genocidal activities in Tibet in the last year? Or the reasons why the revolts began in Tibet in the first place? Is this nation and government not to stand for anything anymore for the sake of maintaining status quo in Tibet? The Dalai Lama is dying. And he may very well die in the next few months. If that were to happen, are we to sit idly by while Beijing replaces him with a puppet of their liking? Are the Tibetans to have no say in the fate of their culture at all? And more to the point, have you forgotten what Beijing did to our nation in 1962? How dare I? How dare you? How dare you forget what Beijing is and has been towards our nation and the Tibetans?”
“Gentlemen! Please!” Ravoof shouted at the top of his voice and brought the room to a tense silence. The PM was still fuming. So was his Defense-Minister…
“Everybody please calm down and take a deep breath here,” Ravoof continued. “We need to be united if we are going to lead this country out of this war in one piece. Regardless of what the Tibetans did from our soil to support their revolt and whatever it is that we did to support them is now no longer relevant. That was months ago. This war is now and no longer about that, as much as Beijing tries to raise it. For now, the Chinese military aggression is what must be controlled. Now where are we on that?”
Ravoof looked to Chakri who stopped fuming and sighed:
“We are finally taking control of the skies above the battlefield across the board. The air-force has secured airspace over southern Tibet. The Chinese are still launching stand-off cruise-missiles at us, but that is the limit of their aerial offensive capabilities at this point. They have taken enormous losses against us. They may decide to bring in units from the mainland as reinforcements, however.”
“And what are the chances of that happening?” Ravoof asked.
“Very much possible,” Chakri responded. “By all accounts we have reports that three mainland-based Fighter Divisions are showing increased deployment activities. These could be pegged for movement to the TAR. These units are based off the Taiwan and Korean coastal areas. The fact that China is thinning these forces out is surprising to say the least.”
“Indeed,” the NSA added. “They are definitely keeping very strict tabs on the news about the war for their own populace. The average Chinese out in the paddy field is still under the impression that the war is going well and that they are on the verge of defeating our forces. I suppose if we make some dramatic strides from the military standpoint, we might be able to bring Beijing to the negotiating table. In which case they might consider keeping their intact forces from getting mauled to use them as a negotiating buffer.”
“I doubt that will happen,” Chakri added.
“What if we declare that we are willing to negotiate an end to this war?” the PM said finally. “I know that is not a topic you want to discuss but it’s certainly a topic that I want to discuss! If we requested negotiations, would they be willing to talk?”
The PM turned to the UN Ambassador. The latter shook his head:
“Unlikely until they are in a position of advantage on the battlefields. And based on what I have heard just now, that is not the case. They might talk, but they will start with a long list of conditions designed to give them an advantage in the near future on the military side of things.”
“I agree with that.” Ravoof intervened and continued: “With the kind of mess the C-M-C has created for itself on the ground, they are probably very annoyed with us right now and will not allow this war to end until they have reclaimed at least some sense of victory. Right now, they are fully aware that we control most of Chumbi valley and their only ground gains have been inside a third country, Bhutan…”