Excerpt from My Novel 'Indians in Pakistan'

 ‘And how did the Americans become the enemies?’ Irfan queried. ‘Weren’t they the ones who gave us money and arms, and dug tunnels for the mujahideens and even the Al Qaeda?’

‘I just love it when you lads ask questions,’ said the trainer cheerfully. ‘Of course, they were our friends at one point of time. They helped us in Afghanistan. They gave Pakistan plenty of aircrafts, weapons and money to fight India. In fact, Nixon, the American President, sent a warship to the Bay of Bengal to attack India in 1971. Unfortunately, the war got over before it could launch an attack. But America did everything for its own selfish reasons. It was the height of the Cold War, and America viewed India and Afghanistan through the prism of paranoia. They feared that these two countries which were close to the former Soviet Union would pose a major threat to their imperialistic plans. They have always been imperialists and infidels. It’s only now that we have begun to realize this sad truth. The mighty Osama was wise enough and realised this quickly, and so he kept on attacking the Americans especially when they meddled in our affairs.’

‘But the Pakistan government and army still maintain good relations with the US,’ Irfan pointed out.

‘We receive aid from them,’ said Razzak, with a look of disgust on his face. ‘So, we have to fool them into thinking that we are on their side. We take their money and pretend as if we’re doing a lot when we’re actually doing nothing for them. Whatever action the army has taken against other jihadis is in the interest of Pakistan itself and not for the US. It’s all an act, you know. Of course, there are some traitors in the army and government who are close to the Americans. That’s why we killed Benazir Bhutto. We killed her because she was an American spy. We even killed Daniel Pearle, another American spy who posed as a journalist.’

‘And now the Americans have a nuclear deal with India,’ I remarked pointedly. ‘They are trying to destroy Pakistan with India’s help.’

Razzak appeared happy to note that his lecture had started to influence us, and we were beginning to realize the gravity of the threat posed by our main enemies. Mere words are enough to start wars or stop them. Mere words are enough to get someone to kill himself or somebody else. Mere words are known to have triggered revolts and destroyed great empires. Truly, the power of words has been grossly underestimated through the ages.

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