Qubool Hai (MeeraSim FF)

7 - Tafteesh

Murtasim made his way through the red brick corridor, attaching the main house to the men's quarter. It had high ceiling and open windows along both sides, facing east to west so the cool current can flow through and cleanse the building of the summer's heat.

It was just a few more steps to the mens quarters, and then up the stairs to the main seating area which was an outdoor space. In this wider courtyard were his mamu's men stood at each corner. In the centre were his mamu, Amir Khan and his son, Rohail Khan, sat in a heated discussion.

They became silent as Murtasim approached and they stood up. Murtasim gestured  for them to sit and all 3 did at the same time.

There was a tension in the air and they waited tor someone to start and Rohail took it upon himself and began to explain the issue at present.

It had started when the Khan's livestock accounts came in short for the previous year - A smaller income had been calculated year when it came to selling the livestock and in milk production- so smaller profits.

The Khans had intially anticipated a new virus or issue with overcrowding, so they spent their efforts in redistrubuting the flock and investing in veterinary care. Therefore they had higher expenditures, leading to significantly lower profits.

It was only when one of their labourers identified the route that the feed came from, that the composition of the feed was investigated and it was considerably less than the manufacturer claimed. They had no need to doubt the manufacturer as they had been life long business partners.

It turns out that some of the Malik's men that had interfered with livestock feed delivery- stealing and diluting the nutrients. This delay had caused the Khan's animals to become weaker and grow less.

When the findings were presentened before panchayat, they had decided the punishement for their financial loss was to be given lands. So the Khan's had acquired new lands from the Maliks from just under a year ago.

When deciding which lands to hand over, the Maliks allocated the lands with the poorest soil conditions and selected area that was furthest away from any water source. This was to ensure the Khans could gain the minimum benefit from the land.

Murtasim had ordered a risk assessment. They had decided to plant wheat as it could bear the barren soils conditions.

The next issue with the new crops was the lack of rainfall this year, so they decided to increase their reliance upon manual irrigation.

They intended to extract water from the earth for their crops directly. This was because the river was too far away and the allocated land was too far out to make it equitable to pull the water from their other sources. Murtasim had commissioned for engineers to drill for water, this was to be overseen by his Mamu as he was stationed in the goan.

Rohail then explained how the engineers had been surveying the land, estimating the probability of successful water extraction of various locations. They had chosen the spot and had began their drilling.

Thats when the Maliks- Malik Mir and their men began threatening the engineers, claiming the selected spot was bordering too close to their lands and that the noise would disturb their animals. 'Malik Mir aaya tha, dhamkeeya dey raha tha.'

The disagreement with the Maliks on their lands meant that a fight had ensued and some of the Khans men had been injuires. 'Hospital mein hai, gooliyan lagi the.' ( Theyve been shot and are in the hospital.)

There was a moment of silence as Murtasim contemplated the situaition that Rohail had created.

'Pehli goli kis ne chalaaye?' Murtasim asked, trying to get straight to the point. What he wanted to know was who escalated the issue? (Who fired the first bullet?)