He requested a meeting with the Prime Minister and the secretaries of defence and foreign relations, apart from the top echelon of military. He explained Qadar’s visit, and the scheme of blowing up the Himalayas. He also explained his own fears regarding such a plan. They all listened carefully till the end.

“So, what is your suggestion?” one of the generals asked as if to break the silence. “I don’t have one, Sir,” Ling replied honestly.

“Then, why have you called us? Only to inform us of the problem? If you shift the problem to our heads, do you think your job is over?”

Ling had not expected such denigration from an army general. It seems, he was busy in his research work when quietly a new generation of people had taken over the reins of the country. In fact, he didn’t know anyone in the room, unlike two decades ago. He felt out of place.

“General! My job is not solving the problems. I simply sensed a potential problem and conveyed it to you. It is for you people to solve this. And, I have never met any general before, who asked for suggestions to do his job,” Ling replied in a strong tone.

Prime Minister intervened. “I apologise, Dr Ling, for the way the question was put. Please do not take offence.” He looked about others sitting around the table. “Gentlemen, he had foreseen a problem that has the potential to destabilise our country. If any of you have suggestions, I’d like to hear them.”

The secretary for internal affairs, a bald man taller than average Chinese, spoke. “He informed some scheme by Pakistan. But, I could not see the problem. For me, it is a solution rather than a problem. In fact, a better solution than that we may not be able to devise.”

Everybody laughed. Ling couldn’t understand these men. Maybe it was the generation gap. The oldest among the others was ten years younger to Ling. He decided to watch the proceedings in silence and tried to keep his emotions and facial expressions neutral to the greatest extent possible.

“Can you elaborate please?” the request was from the chief of army.

“We have problems with both Xizang and Xinjiang provinces. Xizang is an international problem, as followers of the Dalai Lama residing in India are choosing to abuse us whenever they feel. Xinjiang is mostly a domestic problem, but increasing to alarming levels. Apart from keeping the land in our control, there is not much use with these two provinces. In good old days, it was possible to quell the rebellion by natives of Xizang. But, the Xinjiang problem is rapidly spreading and affecting other provinces and there is a religious colour attached to it. We are not in a position to use force in the current international scenario,” he paused and observed others to gauge the mood in the room. No one gave anything away. Everyone was maintaining a face skilfully sculpted from yellow granite devoid of any expression.

Accepting the futility of his effort, he continued. “In this position, if someone from out of our periphery inflicts a damage that weakens any or both of these two groups, it would be easier for us to deal with them in future. And from the topography of Karakoram Range mostly it would be Xinjiang province that may be affected from this misadventure. It will teach them a lesson that their fellow Islamic state was the architect of their devastation. It would be easier for the remaining population that lived through the calamity,” he paused and smiled in a wicked way, before continuing, “It would be easier for the remaining population to integrate with the mainland.” He stopped again and drank the lukewarm tea from the beautifully carved bone china, again trying to spot any expressions on the wooden faces.

This time, his effort was not wasted. He could notice few expressions that may border on a sort of endorsement to his lecture. He finished his tea and resumed his talk. “If we take up this matter with the military of Pakistan, they will deny it. When we give names, at the most, they would execute the concerned colonel and pass the project to someone else. In all probability, the civilian Government does not even know there is such a scheme under implementation.

If we raise this issue with the military, they may do it clandestinely without help. There are many others who can help them with all required equipment. And we will not have any control. Else, they may drop this plan and devise something more devious. If so, we don’t have anything to gain from such a plan.

So, my suggestion is, gentlemen, to involve ourselves in this and ensure that the plan gets executed in a professional way, without fail. As they are searching for a nuclear device, they will get one even without our support. But, we can ensure that a good and strong bomb is given to them ensuring the explosion will really rock whatever other areas, apart from Xinjiang, they desire. This way, our hands are clean as nobody expects us to be a part of the scheme and our internal problems also could be reduced. Anyway, the explosion would happen underground so there is no problem of radiation. At the most this would be recorded as a major earthquake or realignment of the mighty mountains.”

The response to his suggestion was the one he never received nor expected. A big round of applause. Prime Minister thanked him profoundly and asked him to coordinate with all concerned agencies for the successful implementation of—he also coined a name for the plan— “Operation Realignment.” He also advised Dr Ling not to entertain Qadar further and leave everything to the Baldy.

After devouring some other delicacies on the table, everybody left. And before leaving, everybody thanked Ling for providing such a beautiful lead that might solve one of the major problems the nation was facing. And even the arrogant general thanked him.

Ling remained in the room even after everybody left. As a matter of fact, he was stunned by the turn of events. He never expected such a twist to the problem when he called the meeting. Moreover, now he was not even a part of the Chinese help that was to be extended to Pasha, tacitly. And Pasha, Qadar and whoever knew of the scheme will be thinking that it was Ling who helped them. He pitied himself.

* * * * *