A heavily armed team of ten men from the ship boarded two boats and climbed atop the tilted submarine, while the destroyer and its Sea King kept watch. They banged on the hatch shouting at the Chinese inside to open it. Still getting no response, they started cutting open an entrance using blow torches. They had just started the process when the latch was unlocked from the inside and a motley group of Chinese sailors peeked out cautiously. One by one they climbed out with their hands raised and were immediately taken in to custody. No man from either side knew any common language. Although they tried communicating by sign language, the idea was soon dropped and the Chinese were quickly bundled off to the destroyer. Indian team then decided to take chances and entered the submarine. In spite of the unexpectedly easy entry, they were not expecting a real cake walk
Leaving two men to guard the exit, rest of the team started advancing towards the bridge. The fact that the already cramped submarine was tilting to an angle made their advance a bit more complicated. Nevertheless they kept advancing and reached the bridge without facing any opposition. There they were greeted by the sullen faces of a few Chinese seamen. Except for two officers carrying handguns, rest of the crew was unarmed and they all surrendered without much persuasion.
One of the officers knew a little English and he tried talking with Indians. Using gestures and some broken English, he took them to the living quarters where a large group of Chinese sailors was gathered around the Captain's cabin chattering excitedly. On seeing one of their officers guiding the armed Indian party up to the door, they fell quiet and spread around the door.
Leader of Indian party, Chief Petty Officer Lakshman faced the Chinese officer and asked for reason behind the spectacle. Chinese officer in turn pointed towards the door and said, “Captain! Our captain inside.”
Lakshman first looked at his team mates then asked, “Ask him to open the door. He will be treated honourably and fairly.”
Chinese shook his head vehemently, “We have Pakistani. Pakistani has Captain inside. We need help to save Captain.”
Somebody from the Indian team exclaimed, “What the hell is he talking about! He has Pakistanis on board? For what? Cooking pork?”
“Keep quiet and let me try to understand the situation.” Lakshman snapped and turned to Chinese officer again, but Chinese were unable to explain anything more beyond vague gestures.
Getting frustrated with the logjam, Lakshman banged on the door and shouted in Hindi. He was startled by somebody shouting from inside in same language, “Who the fu** is it now?”
Lakshman shouted back, “We are from Indian navy and this submarine along with all its crew is under our control now. Open the door and come outside with your hands up in air. You will not be harmed.”
The man inside the room laughed ironically, “I could've never expected to be in a situation like this even in my wildest dreams.” He snorted again and shouted with renewed anger, “Their damned captain is still alive. Tell all these Chinese turds to fuck off otherwise I'll snap his neck like a chicken. And I need medical attention for the General.”
The Indian team outside exchanged quizzical glances. This was way beyond strange even for them. Feeling slightly bewildered Lakshman replied, “What General and who are you? “
Man inside the cabin laughed again, “You still don't know? Well, that doesn't matter. Get these idiots off the boat and send an unarmed medic inside right now.”
“We have Chinese crew of this submarine under control. We assure you of your safety and full medical attention. Just open the door and let us in.”
“You'll first get these Chinese out of my eyesight and then send a medic inside as I said earlier.”
Lakshman was getting irritated, “Do you realise that you are in no condition to demand anything? This submarine is leaking and will sink in a few hours. You can stay locked inside and first watch your General die then drown with him to your watery grave. Or open the door like a reasonable person and let us help you.”
“I don't care about dying, friend. But I have something that will prove very valuable to you. If I die, the information dies with me. Now you decide if the information that I carry on me is valuable enough for you or not.”
Lakshman sighed resignedly and gestured his men to start rounding up the Chinese “Alright. I'll get them out of submarine right now. As soon as the last Chinese is out, you'll open the door and let us in.”
“Fair enough. I'm waiting.”
But the Chinese didn't oblige easily. As soon as Indians started escorting them out, the Chinese sailors started shouting and refused to budge. Neither side could understand what the other was saying and it was only after the Indians threatened to gun down some of more unruly members that the Chinese started to file out one by one with angry expressions on their faces.
Indian boarding party received a fairly big surprise when they entered the Captain's cabin. Inside they found a Pakistani army officer with a gun pointed at a terrified and bound Chinese submarine captain. Another Chinese officer in PLA General's uniform lay dead on the floor with three bullet wounds while a Paki army officer, who was at once identified as General Asgar himself was spread unconscious on a table. He too had been shot once through chest. The Paki officer was unarmed and everybody taken in to custody. Once at the ship, interrogation started immediately. The captured Paki officer identified himself as Lt. Zia, a trusted aide of General Asgar. The story he told his interrogators was nothing like anybody expected.
According to him, General Asgar had ordered the launch of first nuclear missile as soon as the Chinese had informed him of the arsenal's arrival. By this, he had expected to shift the blame to General Beg and force him to step down under the threat of similar nuclear strikes on Pakistan as well as India. What he hadn't counted upon was the duplicity of Chinese. Within minutes of the first launch, Pakis had intercepted a communication between General Mao Hu and a senior CPC member in China. CPC member was quoted as ordering General Hu to fight to the last Paki. When General Asgar confronted General Hu with the intercept, the Chinese at once kidnapped Asgar and moved him and his aide to the submarine berthed at Omara. Loyalties of numerous Paki army officers had been bought earlier without anybody being wiser and Chinese faced no opposition while they took a Pakistani general hostage inside his own country. They had then ordered the launch of remaining missiles and planned to escape under the confusion. But the swift retaliatory strikes by India had put a spanner to their plans. Additionally their submarine suffered some damage during the nuclear attack at Omara.
With most of their plan screwed up, Chinese had no further use left for Asgar and meant to execute him as soon as possible. But Mao and Asgar somehow overpowered their captors and had managed to shut themselves inside the cabin in same condition as the Indians had found them. To strengthen his claim, Rashid provided Indians with a memory card containing the captured communication between General Hu and his senior in CPC.
Flames And Arrows Page 32
