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....