Author:
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 13, 2001
Introduction: With four foreigners
in custody, Omar Sheikh sends ransom notes to the embassies and the media.
But an unexpected encounter with the police foils the plan. The concluding
part of Sheikh's diaries is about the collapse of his 1994 mission to secure
the release of terrorists including Masood Azhar
A photo shoot
I went to the house and told the
guys there that I had come to take photographs. Some hours later, after
sunrise, Maulana saab went and bought a newspaper. He and Khan saab stood
in the background, veiled, with the newspaper and AK-47. Sultan took the
photos - six of them.
I went back by train and arrived
at Shah saab's house absolutely exhausted. Farooq was there with him. He
told Farooq to take the camera to Ghaziabad and get the same of the American.
I had slept a few hours when Farooq
returned with the photos. Shah saab and I then sat down to make adjustments
to the letters for the photos. Our deadline was 72 hours, starting from
midnight (26th October).
I went off to Kashmiri Gate and
speed-posted one letter. Then I went to Daryaganj and faxed another, asking
the owner of the shop to turn his back since the contents were confidential.
Next day, I went with Farooq and
posted the remaining letters from Connaught Place. Then I returned to Shah
saab's. It was going to be a waiting game, said the Big Man. I was forbidden
from leaving the house so I settled myself down to catch up with my Arabic.
For the next couple of days, I stayed
with Shah saab. Farooq had gone off somewhere. Amin was with us and would
do errands like fetch dinner, etc. Each morning Shah saab went off and
came back saying that he had phoned Pakistan and the comrades were still
not freed. On the 29th he said that the threat would have to be carried
out, so I wrote out the letter to the BBC, VOA, Hindustan Times and British
and American embassies.
Shah saab added some more names
to confuse the authorities even more. Next day, which was a Sunday, Shah
saab instructed me to go to Meerut and post them (in case the authorities
put watchers at Kashmere Gate and Connaught Place). I was on the way to
ISBT when I decided it wasn't worth wasting all that time so I got off
at Kashmere Gate, took a quick look around to see if any security zones
were there, went in and hurriedly got the letters posted all except the
ones to the BBC and the HT - since Shah saab and I had agreed they should
be hand posted in case the authorities are watching the post at the press
organisations.
I deliver the letters
Next morning, I set off with the
last two letters. At Shah saab's instruction, Amin was behind me watching
to see if everything went OK. I went to Nizamuddin East but found that
the BBC office had moved. A chap there gave me the new address: Rafique
Marg. So off I went, Amin behind me, and gave the letter to the rather
nice girl at the reception. 'Tell the Editor I want an answer by 3 p.m.'',
I said thinking tonight she'll be telling the whole world that this big,
monstrous, terrorist-looking sort of chap came to me in person and...Tomorrow
I'll ring her up and say 'Actually, my dear, I'm not like that at all...
I left the building speedily and
went to HT in K G Marg. I found my way to the Chief Editor's office-he
wasn't there himself so I gave the letter to his public affairs manager
and asked him to give it to him. To my consternation, he started opening
it. I speedily withdrew from the room and ran down the stairs (I only just
refrained myself from sliding down the banister!) and out of the entrance
and across the traffic-jammed road where Amin was. We got into a rickshaw
and I told him to go to Okhla since Shah saab had instructed me to go to
my Okhla hideout and show it to Amin also. On the way, when we got to Nizamuddin,
I spied Siddique. So we got off, greeted Siddique and the three of us got
on a bus for Okhla. I went to that place in Haji colony which I'd had for
over a month but had hardly used. Amin left, Siddique stayed.
For my part, I thought, it was finally
over, success or failure lay with Him above. Siddique and I wandered about
the nearby roads and talked philosophically and not so philosophically.
We talked about Afghanistan, Kashmir, Bosnia, and England. We talked about
Shah saab and the other comrades and the great days we had had in Inda,
the jokes that would be remembered for years to come. He told me about
the girl back home he was engaged to, I told him about the one I wasn't
engaged to. We talked about the comrades who'd be getting free any day
now... now their families would meet and what they'd be likely to do next.
So evening came.
It was just after sunset that Shah
saab and Amin arrived. Shah saab told us to get ready. Amin left, Shah
saab then said that the American had stopped eating and that we were to
go and convince him that it was a matter of a few days only.
We left the boarding house and went
towards Jamia Millia. Shah saab asked me as we walked whether it had gone
all right and I replied in the affirmative. He cautioned me not to talk
about pertinent matters in front of the driver.
The driver and the van were waiting
near Okhla ... We got in and sped off toward Ghaziabad. We got down there
and instructed the driver to return at 9 o'clock. We got off on the main
road and had turned into the lane that takes us to the house when two armed
policemen came towards me and asked gruffly who we were and where we were
going. I thought it was a routine patrol and asked what the matter was.
The policeman swore at me and tried to drag me to one side by the collar-at
which I (got) furious and started hitting him. The next thing I remember,
I felt a stinging blow on my back and I looked around to see the other
swinging his rifle at me-my comrades had disappeared. I turned towards
him and BANG!
I felt the anger drain out with
the blood. I thought it was the end.
It was the end...of one era and
the beginning of another.
