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Authors: Humphrey Hawksley
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others.’
Hastings stopped writing: ‘Will India retaliate?’
‘We’re asking her not to, but I fear she will. I’ve ordered top-level satellite surveillance over both countries. Our ambassadors will appeal for restraint and we will keep a
watch.’
‘Pakistan?’
‘It’s on the edge, sir. The Prime Minister has no power. The show is being run by the new Chief of Army Staff, Hamid Khan. He’s a former tank commander. He was on our payroll
during the Afghan war to train up the mujahedin against the Soviets. Then he headed up the ISIA, Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency’s operation, to start the new wave of insurgency in
Kashmir. He’s certainly no fool and we haven’t ruled him out staging a coup in the near future. Khan would have ordered the Stinger operation to bolster his own position.’
‘She’s not going to do an Iran on us, is she, Tom?’
‘Not that bad, sir. But Pakistan is definitely slipping from our grip.’
‘Goddamn basket case,’ said the President, switching his attention to the documents in front of him, then looking up again. ‘And I guess you want a private chat about Tibet as
well. I saw it on the news. The Indians have said sorry and that it was a mistake. The Chinese seem to have responded by shooting up the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile.’
Bloodworth nodded. ‘Even if it stops there, it means there is a substantive split in the Tibetan resistance movement.’
‘I thought the Dalai Lama advocated non-violence,’ said Hastings.
‘He does. But others are getting impatient. They see the progress made by people like the Kosovo Liberation Army through violence and think they should do the same.’
‘And that was a damn shambles.’
The President put down his pen and let Bloodworth talk. ‘For months, the Chinese have been asking India to rein in the Tibetans and India has done nothing. Ever since the 1998 nuclear
tests, when India named China as her main enemy, relations have been frosty. What I really fear is that the Indians see the Tibetan insurgency as a means of undermining the authority of Beijing. In
other words, the Indians are letting the Tibetans do their dirty work for them.’
‘And whose side should we be on?’ said the President.
‘India is the world’s biggest democracy and in a constant political mess. China has a seat on the UN Security Council, has helped us with the Balkans, North Korea, Indonesia, you
name it. Our trade is huge.’
‘So we sit on the fence,’ interrupted the President.
‘Except I sense our neutrality is about to be severely tested. Our intelligence suggests that Lama Togden, who was lifted from the prison, has not been picked up by the Chinese. We
don’t know where he is, but he’s still free and if he gets out alive he’s expected to ask for asylum in the United States.’
Gongkar County, Tibet
Local time: 2200 Friday 4 May 2007
GMT: 1400 Wednesday 4 May 2007
The men laid blankets on the cold rocks and lowered the stretcher onto them so that Togden could drink water. Choedrak pulled a bottle out from inside his coat, where he
had been keeping it from turning to ice. He tilted it to Togden’s lips, chapped and coated with frozen blood, and held his head, while the monk let the water drain into his mouth.
Swiftly deteriorating weather struck Togden down once they climbed into the high mountain passes. For the whole of the second day he had a fever and was semi-conscious. The men carried him and
led their ponies rather than ride in order to keep warm. They wrapped protective cloths around their faces to shield them from lashing rain and snow-blindness. Reports kept reaching them of
movements of Chinese troops sent in to cut them off, but Choedrak had prepared the route well. Armed units from the Special Frontier Force welcomed them at many villages. They were hiding out along
the mountain roads, waiting in ambush for the Chinese.
Once they reached the higher ground, it was easier to hide from helicopters. But
Hastings stopped writing: ‘Will India retaliate?’
‘We’re asking her not to, but I fear she will. I’ve ordered top-level satellite surveillance over both countries. Our ambassadors will appeal for restraint and we will keep a
watch.’
‘Pakistan?’
‘It’s on the edge, sir. The Prime Minister has no power. The show is being run by the new Chief of Army Staff, Hamid Khan. He’s a former tank commander. He was on our payroll
during the Afghan war to train up the mujahedin against the Soviets. Then he headed up the ISIA, Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency’s operation, to start the new wave of insurgency in
Kashmir. He’s certainly no fool and we haven’t ruled him out staging a coup in the near future. Khan would have ordered the Stinger operation to bolster his own position.’
‘She’s not going to do an Iran on us, is she, Tom?’
‘Not that bad, sir. But Pakistan is definitely slipping from our grip.’
‘Goddamn basket case,’ said the President, switching his attention to the documents in front of him, then looking up again. ‘And I guess you want a private chat about Tibet as
well. I saw it on the news. The Indians have said sorry and that it was a mistake. The Chinese seem to have responded by shooting up the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile.’
Bloodworth nodded. ‘Even if it stops there, it means there is a substantive split in the Tibetan resistance movement.’
‘I thought the Dalai Lama advocated non-violence,’ said Hastings.
‘He does. But others are getting impatient. They see the progress made by people like the Kosovo Liberation Army through violence and think they should do the same.’
‘And that was a damn shambles.’
The President put down his pen and let Bloodworth talk. ‘For months, the Chinese have been asking India to rein in the Tibetans and India has done nothing. Ever since the 1998 nuclear
tests, when India named China as her main enemy, relations have been frosty. What I really fear is that the Indians see the Tibetan insurgency as a means of undermining the authority of Beijing. In
other words, the Indians are letting the Tibetans do their dirty work for them.’
‘And whose side should we be on?’ said the President.
‘India is the world’s biggest democracy and in a constant political mess. China has a seat on the UN Security Council, has helped us with the Balkans, North Korea, Indonesia, you
name it. Our trade is huge.’
‘So we sit on the fence,’ interrupted the President.
‘Except I sense our neutrality is about to be severely tested. Our intelligence suggests that Lama Togden, who was lifted from the prison, has not been picked up by the Chinese. We
don’t know where he is, but he’s still free and if he gets out alive he’s expected to ask for asylum in the United States.’
Gongkar County, Tibet
Local time: 2200 Friday 4 May 2007
GMT: 1400 Wednesday 4 May 2007
The men laid blankets on the cold rocks and lowered the stretcher onto them so that Togden could drink water. Choedrak pulled a bottle out from inside his coat, where he
had been keeping it from turning to ice. He tilted it to Togden’s lips, chapped and coated with frozen blood, and held his head, while the monk let the water drain into his mouth.
Swiftly deteriorating weather struck Togden down once they climbed into the high mountain passes. For the whole of the second day he had a fever and was semi-conscious. The men carried him and
led their ponies rather than ride in order to keep warm. They wrapped protective cloths around their faces to shield them from lashing rain and snow-blindness. Reports kept reaching them of
movements of Chinese troops sent in to cut them off, but Choedrak had prepared the route well. Armed units from the Special Frontier Force welcomed them at many villages. They were hiding out along
the mountain roads, waiting in ambush for the Chinese.
Once they reached the higher ground, it was easier to hide from helicopters. But
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