TANZEEM
Page 23
And to P.M. Sukumar, Philip Jojy, Amit Sharma, Shuka Jain, Lipika Bhushan, Ratna Joshi, Ayushi Srivastava and the others at HarperCollins India who have helped to make this book and this series possible.
To the National Arts Council, Singapore, for providing me the wonderful opportunity and mindspace I needed to finish this book in double-quick time. Their faith and support have been unquestioning and unfailing. It freed me from routine worries and enabled me to focus single-mindedly on this book.
And, last but not the least, to each of you readers who has egged me on with praise and criticism, by writing to me, by blogging about these books and, of course, by buying them.
Abbreviations
ATGM Anti-Tank Guided Missile
CAP Combat Air Patrol
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
DGFI Directorate General Forces Intelligence
ELINT Electronic Intelligence
FANA Federally Administered Northern Areas
FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas
HUMINT Human Intelligence
ICV Infantry Carrier Vehicle
IED Improvised Explosive Device
IM Indian Mujahideen
ISAF International Security Assistance Force
ISI Inter Services Intelligence
MRT Mobile Response Team
NIA National Intelligence Adviser
NIC National Intelligence Command
NOE Nape of the Earth
NWFP North West Frontier Province
QRT Quick Response Team
RAW Research and Analysis Wing
RPG Rocket Propelled Grenade
SATINT Satellite Intelligence
SIGINT Signal Intelligence
SOF Special Operations Force
UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
About the Author
An alumnus of La Martiniere College, Lucknow, the National Defence Academy, Pune, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Mukul Deva was commissioned in December 1981 into the Sikh Light Infantry of the Indian Army. He took early retirement from the army after fifteen years of service, including a decade of combat operations in India and overseas. He is now an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, leadership, business and executive coach, and consultant. He is the author of Time After Time…It All Happened, S.T.R.I.P.T.E.A.S.E: The Art of Corporate Warfare, M.O.D.E.L.: The Return of the Employee, and three bestselling books in the ‘Lashkar’ series: Lashkar, Salim Must Die and Blowback.
Praise for Mukul Deva
‘The God of all things… it is tough describing Mukul Deva.’
– Business World
‘Deva has a Nostradamus touch.’
– The Statesman
‘India’s literary storm trooper.’
– Business Standard
‘Deva comes as a pleasant surprise… it is rare to find a successful, celebrated man who has enough vulnerability.’
– New Indian Express
‘You can smell the gunpowder. Such is the power of the words of Mukul Deva.’
– The Hindu
‘India’s only military thriller writer.’
– The Week
‘Here comes India’s Clancy or Ludlum or Forsyth.’
– Outlook
‘Deva needs to be congratulated for being part of the pioneering group in the genre of the Indian thriller novel.’
– Deccan Herald
‘Mukul Deva wears the crown of India’s premier military thriller writer with great skill and panache.’
– www.indepepal.com
‘India finally has a writer of international caliber in the genre of military fiction.’
– First City
‘[Deva’s] books… represent the beginning of Indian literature’s venture into fictional military thrillers.’
– Yuva (Fortnightly)
‘Mukul Deva still has no rivals in the Indian political thriller field.’
– The Statesman
Praise for Blowback
‘He’s got a license to thrill… India’s first military action thriller writer, Mukul Deva is back with a bang with Blowback.’
— The Indian Express
‘His insightful writing is lucid… Deva can play political commentator and soothsayer of national defence and novelist… a heady cocktail of chill and thrill.’
— Hindustan Times
‘Full of excitement and suspense… the emotive quality in Deva’s writing is powerful and the logic crisply military… a surprisingly touching statement from a man who has lived by the gun.’
— Express Buzz
‘The ease with which Deva combines well-known facts with popular fiction makes for a fantastic read… his writing style is top-notch… the story is tight and gripping.’
— First City
‘A riveting read… unnervingly prophetic… heartbreaking… Deva’s trilogy is a must read… he paints the picture of geo-politics and terrorism with fantastic clarity.’
— The Hindu
‘Tightly knit, action packed and lucid.’
— The Organiser
‘Simply superb… the descriptions are vivid, the plot racy and the detail very convincingly developed.’
— Mid Day
‘A fun thriller, straight out of the headlines… Deva’s biggest strength is the smoothness of his prose, crisp and fast moving, and you never get distracted from the story.’
— Deccan Herald
Praise for Salim Must Die
‘Deva is back and how! Uncannily prescient. Unputdownable. Salim Must Die enthrones Deva as the undisputed Master of Thrills.’
– Sarthak Dasgupta, film-maker
‘Taut and gripping… technical knowledge and research are remarkable, as is the plotting and the premise. Great read for the fans of Tom Clancy.’
– Delhi Times
‘A ripping, edge-of-your-seat, burn-the-midnight-oil, good read. Deva sets a frenetic pace. The author’s attention to detail and prodigious research skills are evident.’
– www.indepepal.com
‘After his much acclaimed Lashkar… Salim Must Die continues its Tom Clancy-eqsue (run).’
– Mail Today
‘Finally, an Indian thriller of quality… where neither the tautness nor the pace collapses.’
– Outlook
‘Fast and furious… the action is non-stop, more sophisticated and terrifyingly real… thoroughly entertaining and extremely well-researched.’
– Business Standard
‘Deva is an equal with the likes of Robert Ludlum and Sidney Sheldon…’
– Deccan Herald
‘Is bound to leave an impact on you… makes you think about the dangerous world we live in.’
– Business World
‘A prescient tale… racy, keeps you hooked… definitely written for the movies.’
– The Hindu
‘Salim Must Die is as real as it gets… gut wrenching action and a deeper look into the terrorist’s psyche.’
– Khabar Dilli Se
Praise for Lashkar
‘An edge-of-the-seat-thriller.’
– Hindustan Times
‘Exciting… with some action, some introspection, some retrospection… a racy read.’
– The Times of India
‘For the first time, an Indian thriller set in contemporary times… a gripping tale.’
– The Pioneer
‘Lashkar tries to make sense of the terror that surrounds our lives.’
– The Hindu
‘Ludlumesque.’
– The Tribune
‘A glance is enough to discover… this is a Tom Clancy on the LOC.’
– Time Out
‘A real page-turner… a riveting read.’
– Business Standard
‘Written with style and panache.’
– Sahara Time
‘A real-life take on how the so-called jihadis are picked up from anonymous Indian streets… Lashkar tells many
tales with great ease.’
– MetroPlus
‘Lashkar is gripping… racy and visually captivating.’
– Indo Asian News Service
‘A compelling read.’
– Govind Nihalani, film-maker
‘Thrillingly Indian.’
– The Statesman
What Readers Have to Say
‘The sharp zigzags of the plot kept us on edge and made for a very racy pace – each of my family members finished it at one reading!’
– Amit Kumar Bose, bose.amitkumar@gmail.com
‘Lashkar and Salim Must Die will find an answering chord with many and both are bound to be made into films and have multiplexes filled with patriotic cheers.’
– Anjana Basu, anjanaorama@gmail.com
‘Mukul has the knack of communicating the terrorism issue with a great degree of relevance and still make it fictional.’
– Rakesh Dalwani, rdalwani@rediffmail.com
‘His in-depth knowledge of affairs military coupled with a lucid and simple style of storytelling makes the reader crave for more.’
– Brigadier Sanjeev Kanal, sanjeevkanal@rediffmail.com
‘The Lashkar series is simply genius personified. Gripping storylines and excellent coverage and explanation of the global geo-political scenario.’
– Monish Navlani, monishn@live.com
‘Lashkar was pacy, tight, very well knit and pleasantly vindicating. Mukul deftly blends his knowledge of military operations with his knack of thriller writing.’
– Gul Panag, gulpanag@gmail.com
‘I put off everything once I started reading Mukul Deva’s series and then I told all my friends. Clancy, sure, but I’m thinking the next Ken Follett.’
– Fran Lebowitz Rittman, flebowitz@yahoo.com
‘People are comparing Deva’s writing to the Ludlums and Clancys of the world but in my eyes he is way beyond them… somewhere close to Mathew Riley and Allen Folsom.’
– Anunay Shrivastava, anunay.shrivastava@gmail.com
First published in India in 2011 by
HarperCollins Publishers India
Copyright © Mukul Deva 2011
ISBN: 978-93-5029-033-0
Epub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 978-9-35029-455-0
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Mukul Deva asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction and all characters and incidents described in this book are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under The Copyright Act, 1957. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers India.
Cover design: Riti Jain Dhar
For sale in the Indian subcontinent only
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