The mortar fire worried Kulkarni, though. Time to call in a favor from Sudarshan: “rhino-actual to steel-central. We are encountering indirect mortar fire from within Rahim Yar Khan. Requesting counter-battery support. Over.”
“We see it and are working on it. Steel-central out.”
For Kulkarni, this battle was like a roadside show. He could do little other than to watch as it played out and trust the training and caliber of his men to ensure they came out on top. He almost missed a heartbeat when an enemy tank round slashed from between some buildings and just barely missed the front of an Arjun tank rolling sideways to the threat. The latter Arjun crew got into action and brought their front armor to face towards the yet unseen threat. A Pakistani T-80 tank rumbled between the narrow buildings to the north. Both it and the Arjun tank fired at each other simultaneously and the two tank rounds hit their targets. On the Arjun side, the enemy round hit square bang into the center of the Kanchan composite armor plating on the turret and the Arjun literally shuddered backwards behind a cloud of sparks. The T-80 received a round straight into its reactive armor panels and the latter exploded, jerking it aside.
The T-80 was clearly disabled. Its crew scampered out of the turret as smoke began appearing out of the engine. The Arjun tank on the other side of the road, however, shrugged off the hit and despite a nasty scar on its turret armor panels, rumbled back on the road. It fired a second shell and this one passed straight through the detonated reactive panels on the T-80 and demolished the tank in a fountain of sparks and smoke…
There were other T-80s hiding in the town. And rhino-bravo tanks all maneuvered to bring their frontal armor to bear on the besieged town. This was no longer a minor skirmish. It was now a major battle.
Kulkarni knew that there was no way he was sending his tanks inside Rahim Yar Khan to engage the enemy in a cat and mouse game. No, the enemy had to be hunted in a way where he could not respond. Kulkarni thought about talking to Sudarshan but noticed that the latter had already come to the same conclusion when the first air-force AH-64 Apache gunship helicopters flew over his tanks…
35
“What am I about to do?”
Haider had repeatedly asked himself the same question for the past day. He rubbed his hands on his face. He still had no clear answer to it. He sighed and looked to the side of the table to see some picture frames laying on the floor. He pushed his chair back and picked up one of them, blowing the dust off it. It was the picture of a young child who had once stayed here in this apartment…
Where are you now? A voice asked him. Did you make it out of here in time? You probably did. Inshallah.
The picture of the boy seemed to speak to him as though the boy himself was standing in the room. Perhaps a manifestation of his conscience? He looked at the boy as though he were real.
Forgive me for what I must do to your house and that of so many others in this great city of ours. Perhaps Allah will understand that we did it for the safety of your generation against the Hindu threat to our way of life. Perhaps he will have mercy on those of us who shouldered this grave responsibility.
He put the picture back on a wall shelf and adjusted it so that it looked as it should. The boy reminded Haider of his own kids. His family were on a truck convoy heading to the Afghanistan border via Peshawar along with other families of senior Pak army commanders.
Will I see them again? Haider thought. Do I deserve to?
I doubt it.
He frowned and his eyes narrowed. He turned and picked up his sidearm and helmet stacked on the table and stormed out of the room. The chaotic noises enveloped him. The serene thoughts were gone. Time to get the job done.
“Akram!” He shouted over the chatter in his operations center and waved the major over. Akram had been conferring on the map table with the colonels and majors commanding the surviving units around the city. The officers all turned to see Haider and saluted from where they were. Haider returned the salute but did not bother walking over to the table. He knew that these unit commanders had their own evacuation plans to enact. Haider’s plan was to withdraw his forces out of the city within the shortest possible timeframe, leaving only the jihadists to fight blissfully until the end. They had one final role to play before they went to meet Allah, and it was to provide the Pak army time to evacuate from the city.
“Akram,” Haider said as he held the man’s arm and took him aside, “it is imperative that we coordinate all of our forces and pull back uniformly. The jihadists mustn’t expect a thing! If they do, they will drop their weapons and run, and the Indians will overrun all our retreating columns. It will be a massacre!”
“I understand, sir.” Akram said grimly. “The battalion and brigade commanders have been notified to that effect. And the 6TH Armored Division northwest of the city are notified to expect our columns withdrawing from Lahore.”
Haider nodded. “Good. What about our special cargo?”
“Captain Saadat and his men are setting it up near the field-hospital. They just need the go ahead.”
“Excellent.” Haider looked at his wristwatch: “time to start moving, then. Let’s go.”
“Yes sir.” Akram turned to face the room: “everyone: time for us to leave. Let’s go! Let’s go!”
As Haider watched, the room became an instant flurry of personnel and equipment. The radiomen started packing up their equipment and antennae. The battlefield computers were shut down and closed. The maps on the table were rolled and swept off. Within minutes, the room was already semi-vacant. Haider put his helmet on and snapped on the chin buckle. Akram walked over after slapping a full magazine into his M-4 rifle. Haider slipped his sidearm in his thigh holster and nodded to Akram, who led the way out. Haider followed him out along with his bodyguards.
Outside, a slight fog hovered above the streets. The sky above was turning dark blue and the topmost floors of the buildings were reflecting the red-yellow sunlight. In the street below, dozens of army trucks and vehicles roared as they drove past, leaving dust hovering in the air. Haider took all this in as he stepped out of the building.
The rumble of Indian artillery to the south reminded him that this city was nearly surrounded. Only the western and northwestern roads remained in Pakistani hands. And the 6TH Armored division to the north was manning them. This unit would receive Haider’s columns as they pulled out.
“Sir! This way!”
Haider turned to see Akram waving to him across the road. He looked both ways and then ran across, following Akram as he led them down the street. They found the field-hospital next to what used to be a civilian emergency care-center. Parked ambulances occupied the streets and wounded and bloodied soldiers were being loaded on them. The wounded soldiers were being hurriedly evacuated under Haider’s orders. It was a poignant sight as the tar of the road had blood spots everywhere. Haider’s only solace was that he wasn’t leaving these men behind.