Dhanaraj thanked the group for their attention and returned to his seat. The Defense Minister took his place. “Thank you, General.” He paused, hands on hips. “Well, I needn’t remind you, gentlemen, of the serious threat posed by Pakistan’s detonation of a nuclear’device. It is the government’s opinion that only’an extremely swift and decisive victory in the field can end this campaign before Islamabad resolves to use such weapons against us.”
Ramesh nodded. This was certainly the real reason the Defense Minister was here. The government was worried about Pakistan’s bomb.
“Based on our own experience with atomic weapons, Intelligence believes that the Pakistanis have not yet succeeded in assembling nuclear warheads small enough to deliver as bombs, but their technicians are certain to be working on the problem.
“In addition, the government wishes to emphasize that growing pressure in the world community is working against us. Sooner or later, the UN will move to force an end to hostilities in this region. We must achieve our territorial and political goals first. We therefore have two reasons to see this affair through to a swift conclusion.
“Everything, everything depends on a rapid and successful drive to Karachi. With the country’s major port in our hands, the Pakistanis will be cut off from outside aid and forced to capitulate. While we are taking seriously their threats to use nuclear weapons as a last resort, it is our considered opinion that they will refrain from doing so, at least for the time being. Use of such weapons would create a bad image for them in the world at large and could jeopardize their trade relationship with the United States. Nor will they be eager to detonate nuclear weapons on their own soil. We must beat them before they decide that such consequences are less important than their own survival, that, in fact, their very survival is at stake. We cannot afford to have our attacks become stalled or slowed by unexpected resistance.
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Keith Douglass
ARMAGEDDON MODE
121
“And this, my friends, brings us to the principal subject of our meeting today. The Americans.”
Ramesh leaned forward, suddenly intent. What was the government going to do about the American threat?
“I need not remind you, gentlemen,” Sundarji continued, “of American interference in this region during our war with Pakistan in 1971. At that time they stationed another of their nuciear carriers, the Enterprise, in the Bay of Bengal. This was a constant threat we could not ignore throughout our operations in Bangladesh.
“Since dial time, they have commissioned their installation at Diego Garcia, stationed carrier battle groups in the Arabian Sea, and organized their rapid-deployment force for intervention in our part of the world. Now they have positioned a nuclear carrier battle group only a hundred miles from our shores. With their in-flight refueling capabilities, they are within easy range of Operation Cobra’s supply lines. They can interdict our activities anywhere from Bombay to Baluchistan.
“The government is concerned that the Americans might interfere with our naval blockade of Pakistan, sever our supply lines with the Persian Gulf, or both. In the event of hostilities, our supply lines across the Thar Desert would be especially vulnerable.
“If we are to have a free hand in our operation in Pakistan, the American threat in our waters must be eliminated.”
Rear Admiral Ramesh stirred in his seat, then raised a hand. The Defense Minister looked down at him with owlish eyes. “Admiral?”
“Your pardon, sir . . . but does this mean we are declaring war against the Americans?” He felt a fierce, inner surge of emotion. The events of the past days seemed to have gone beyond any one government’s control, an explosion of encounters, blunders, and headlong stumbles toward the abyss of war. Was the Prime Minister actually choosing to ride events toward what seemed to be their predestined end … to take control and anticipate that war?
The minister frowned. “There will be no formal declaration, Admiral, no. But India will take action to guarantee her own sovereignty.”
Ramesh was confused. “Sir?”
“Success in Pakistan, and our own security, demand that we
force the United States . . . and all other extraterritorial powers … to recognize our claims to the Arabian Sea and abandon military control of the Indian Ocean basin to us. Our requests before the UN Security Council have been rebuffed. This, then, leaves us with but a single course of action.