Arohan - The Ascent

Serendipity

Kabul -UNAMA HQ

I control center in the UNAMA headquarters had already been notified, that the caravan that had been sent down south, had got stalled due to the detection of gunfire. There were more than a few good men on that convoy and if a decision was taken to secure the safety of these men, it might be too late.

General Pattinson, who was in charge of the operation, mulled his options. One of his deputies told him, that even if they sent out drones to clear the way for the trailers from the skies, it would take at least a couple of hours, for the drones to reach the location where the trailers were stuck. But sending in the drones was a safe option, without the need to put further boots on the ground.

Just as General Pattinson, had reached a decision, a call came through on one of the radio communication systems. An operator answered the call. The call had come from the commanding officer of the convoy in the first truck. And the news that the call brought was unsettling for everyone.

The commander conveyed that an Indian office had walked into the darkness ahead of the convoy and in the direction of the gunfire. They were yet to determine the identity of the officer in question, but there was no doubt that he came from the Indian peacekeepers.

General Pattinson, tensed up at the news. This was a clear violation of the chain of command. The soldiers had been implicitly instructed to stay put, unless and otherwise, they had been ordered.  General Pattinson, made a sign with his hands, and one of his deputies, went out of the control room, to place a call to his Indian counterpart in the UNAMA HQ.

Somewhere in Kandahar Near the Stuck Convoy

As Vikram sneaked into the darkness, moving slowly and deliberately, so as not to make any noise, he could see a few meters away from him, two large trucks. They were only a few men, 4 in his line of vision and they were unloading some, hijab and burqa-clad girls from the trucks. Vikram could make out the faint screams of the men, ordering something to the girls in Pashto, the local language in this region of Afghanistan.

Then, he heard the shots being fired again. Vikram immediately placed the weapon as a Russian-made Kalashnikov, AK-47, the assault rifle of choice of Taliban and other such militant organizations. He himself was using the American made, M-16 which was supposed to be more destructive than the Russian made gun.

The girls seemed to be made to stand in a file and at the sound of the gun shots, they seemed to be intimidated into standing into line. Vikram thought to go close. He was beginning to understand , what seemed to be going on. This was perhaps a death squad. The taliban regularly did this kind of death squads to intimidate women into becoming wives and concubines of their fighters. This is how they had been producing generation after generation of fighters.

Vikram's breath quickened at the though of the fate that was to befall the girls. he quickly calculated the two choices that emerged in front of him. One, he could charge at the Taliban men in front of him, and there was no way of telling how many men there were exactly. Or he could radio his commanding officer and inform him of what was going on. But if he did that, then he would seed the decision making to his commanding officer.

As Vikram stood contemplating what to do, one of the men, dragged a woman forward. A couple of other men joined him and the three men, began to disrobe the woman forcibly. The other women, outnumbering the men, were flanked by 4 more gun toting men, surrounding them, with their guns pointed at the women.

The girl seemed to struggle even as the perpetrators, pulled garmet after garment from her body. He could hear her wails and screams even from the distance he was standing at. Vikram's breath quicker as he witnessed how the men brutalised the dignity of the woman. It brought back horrendous memories from his past.Of a time, when he was the one perpetrating the atrocity.