The King’s Gambit: Chapter 1 (The Immigrant)

SUX SENA

``highest per average income of any ethnic group in america...``

Thats because they counted me as ``Indian ethnic Group``

Whose statistics ,it must be Rediff/india abroad/Sulekha poll of Indian sounding names

There cannot be ``Indian Ethnic Group``

b/c South Afrikan,U,K,Trinidian ,Guyanese,West Indies,Surinam,Belize,Kenyan,Nigerian,Middle Eastern(kuwaitGulf Iran..)are NOT indian Nationals but socialioze with Indian Organization Holi ,Deevali & Assocuiation membership

Rafique

Can`t wait for your next installment. Since you have been so prescient, do share with us how the border situation will turn out.

BTW, WTC attack, while shocking was not totally unexpected. The earlier attack made it clear that this was a target. Did your story have planes ploughing thru the buildings? Now that would have been pure genius. In that case you should indeed quit your day jobs and join the CIA or the NORAD (or whatever else the canucks have).

Predicting an army coup in pakistan is no big deal since coups have been a regular feature in pakistan any way.

Re Rafique 18

Dream on. But seriously, good luck if you do strike it big as authors.

Interesting ! As I was reading the beg I thought it was about that sharp Pakistani financier cum political analyst cum whatever - I forget his name but is on TV all the time nowadays.

As an aside did you know - The Bourne Conspiracy is being released later this month ?? Cant wait !!

aicha

Rdesikan 15; ``Your guys should hold on to your day jobs``

Both of us have decided to follow your advice, and have withdrawn our resignations. Our current jobs are far too well-paying to consider another career. At the same time, we need to keep in mind that Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman, and JK Rowling was a teacher, before embarking on their careers in fiction. If they had followed everyone`s advice, we would not have been introduced to Jack Ryan and Harry Potter.

Prem 16; Thank you for sharing the information. Our childhood does play an important role in deciding who we are. I talked to a psychologist who told me, our personalities are decided by the time we reach our teens. Another told me, they are decided by the time we reach the age of four.

The death of Rafi`s father will be explained in a later chapter. And you will discover the basis of his obsession.

soysauce 17; I will check out the OBL story. Interestingly enough, when I wrote the abstract, one of the original chapter`s outlines dealt with a coup that takes place in Pakistan. About six months later, a coup did end up taking place in Pakistan. Similarly, one chapter dealt with a terrorist attack in the USA. Lo and behold, Sept. 11.

Bringing these exact events in, after they have occurred, is going to be somewhat unintersting. So they have been commented out. What do you think?

Rafique

There was an MSNBC story about an american woman married to someone who used to be OBL`s secretary. There are some striking parallels between your protagonist and this guy. You may want to check it out (MSNBC Jan 8th).

Something off the topic (good storyline evolving here, btw)

``Childhood educations, traumas and experiences seem to have a far longer lasting effect on humans, than adult experiences.``

As a corollary, communication (and concomitant learning) occurs according to the Principle of Primacy - information that is received first gets a far greater weightage than information that comes later. For an overwhelming majority of people, this cycle of ``biased learning, selective response, reinforced biased learning`` is almost impossible to break.

That is why, (1) (at the individual level) no matter how many books some people may read, they are unable to break out of the broad world-view they develop as children, and (2) (at the collective level) clear differences exist in child-rearing and educational practices in societies that can change and societies that can`t.

Your guys should hold on to your day jobs

I would like to thank the Chowk staff for publishing this article. I would also like to thank the interactors, for their replies and suggestions, to the article. Please keep them coming. You may find them added to future chapters. I also want to thank Umair (Romair, as he seems to be known here) for introducing me to this wonderful site. I have been visiting here quite often, but have not interacted much.

The current story is part of an abstract I wrote a few years ago. I passed it on to Umair who filled in parts, based on some of his experiences. We submitted it to Chowk, during his last visit to Canada.

Following are the answers to some of the queries:

Layman 1; ``If I can extrapolate from the first chapter, Israel is planning to attack Pakistan, probably its nuclear installations. Unlike India, Israel has no pact with Pak saying it will not attack its nuclear installations, Pak missiles are probably not long range enough to reach Israel.``

I cannot comment on the first line. You will have to wait to find out as the story develops. The second and third lines are correct.

Ras 2; ``Interesting that ``New Delhi`` is missing thus far.``

This is just the first chapter.

Mona, Anny, Samina; I appreciate the kind words. I will attempt to fill in the abstracts of the second and third chapters soon, and send them into Chowk. After that you will have to convince the Chowk Staff to get them printed.

manoj 5; ``the boy can go out of the madrissa but the madrissa cant go out of the boy.``

This is true, in many cases, according to psychiatrists. Childhood educations, traumas and experiences seem to have a far longer lasting effect on humans, than adult experiences. In the case of the character Rafi Qureshi, there is a death of a father involved, also. The death could have occurred under a circumstance of conflict, which would furthur influence this character.

arjun_m 7; Thank you for the information about the submarines. I was unaware of this. Could you please provide some additional information on this? I am interested in exploring it furthur.

ylh 8; This is first chapter, First chapters are usuaully quite boring. They usually deal with introductions to characters. Just wait for a little while.

``I fear the attack is going to be on Mecca.``

The Prime Minister has already moved past UAE, towards Iran, so Mecca has been passed. Unless, of course, it is attacked at a later stage, or if the Prime Minister makes a U-turn with the mouse.

Bhardwaj 10; I spent a lot of time reading Ludlum, Forsyth, and now Clancy. However, my favortie authors are Domique Lapierre and Larry Collins. They write historical stories with fiction added to them, in French and English. Their book on India and Pakistan, titled, ``Freedom at Midnight`` is very good. Another book, ``O` Jerusalem`` is very interesting. It is definitely not written from an Israeli points of view. You may enjoy reading it.

semipreciousme 12; ``since the real life `shariel` is as big as a cow, i`m having a real hard time imagining this...``

You maybe refering to Sharon. Shariel is a fictional character. Shariel is still trim, lean, athletic, and regularly runs three miles every morning with his aides and bodyguards.

Once again, thank you for your comments and suggestions.

re: hobbyty

{{Within culture, even at the level of cartoons for children, let alone movies, televison and print, villany, neagtivity is posited in the Muslim and in Islam itself.}}

....are you talking about the `where is osama` segment jay leno does?...you didn`t like him riding that camel dressed in a yankee doodle uniform?...or letterman`s crack about that shoe bomber`s new Air Jehad sneakers?....

...a community doesn`t move forward b.c. of cartoon characters?...there`s some indian dunce on the Simpsons and indians have the highest per average income of any ethnic group in america...

...dude, you are a joke...

``Ari Shariel entered the main compound of the Knesset through the big iron Polambo gate. His bodyguard was having difficulty keeping pace with him.``

....since the real life `shariel` is as big as a cow, i`m having a real hard time imagining this...

Sigalpg, Hamidm

Let`s begin with the proposition that you are not among the ranks of the self loathers - The US is not a ``melting pot``, it has not been for more than six decades - African American, Polish, American, Italian American and we can`t forget the Jews (a host of ethnic nationalities among just that group) - ``melting pot`` is freshman textbooks.

Both of of suggest that the Muslim is a spoiler amongst the American - both of you misunderstand and misrepresent the Muslim experience in America. While Muslim civic and religious organization have worked hard to become a major organizing force, the goal of national relevance has eluded them, thus far - I am quite confident that this objective will be achieved, but not with this culture and this society (America) coming to grips with the fact that culturally, historically, it has been anything but fair or neutral with regard to Islam.

Within culture, even at the level of cartoons for children, let alone movies, televison and print, villany, neagtivity is posited in the Muslim and in Islam itself.

Many Muslims seek to hide, see their interest in not creating an awareness in this society of it`s hostility towards Islam and Muslims - but this strategy is characterized by diminshing returns. Muslims who are citizens of America do not seek to exercise a previlage in asserting themselves, but a right. Unfortunately in the present atmosphere only by agitation and and recourse to legal remedies can they ensure the protection of their rights.

Godot

I do take your point about what the stamp may represent and I remain optimistic - however; citizens must not face harassment in the exercise of their rights. Are you aware of the number of Muslim owned business firebombed, ordinary Muslims discriminated against? How many of these cases have been resolved? how many punished? I think we both know the answer - Just how mature is US leadership in dealing with the Europeans? why is it that the Europeans or is it continentals, react also with caution to American iniatives?

Muslims who are citizens of America are right in saying that the US is great country and that Muslims can certainly be free and participate - having said that, we would be remiss if we did not add that Muslim Americans must remain vigilant because there are other Americans who do not see the Muslim American, or Muslim presence in America in friendly terms.

Iam glad this fiction is written by Muslims.Otherwise most of the Israelis writers are so keen on writing fictions that many Hindians ,due to lack of comprehension ,think what Israelis write are true.(e.g. Manoj`s Post)

I have been hard pressed since college days teaching them(hindians) that Exodus,Odessa Files etc are fancy propoganda by Israelis who know english & write propoganda mixture of some fact & heavy dose of Israeli wishfull thinking.Somthing like Salman Rushdie ,inshoert time learnt later to mix fact with fiction by which most average joe like Indians can be CONFUSED!!!

Pakistani militants undaunted

Musharraf`s Army quietly sympathizes with Pakistani jihadis who claim Kashmir.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0109/p1s2-wosc.html

By Elizabeth Rubin | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - The Jamaat-I-Islami calls its quiet compound on the Grand Trunk Road in Peshawar the Center of Islam. The party is the ideological nucleus for all the jihadi groups fighting to wrest the majority-Muslim state of Kashmir from Indian control.

On the walls of the guest house is painted a scene of Muslim fighters on horseback, men with camels walking out of the mountains, over the words: ``Muslims of the subcontinent want to fulfill the ideology which says Pakistan is for the Muslims, India is for the Hindus; it will not be fulfilled without Kashmir; and thus we need an Islamic revolution.``



Despite the fact that Jamaat-I-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad has been arrested and despite Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf`s crackdown on jihadi leaders and fighters in the weeks since the Indian Parliament was attacked by unknown gunmen on Dec. 13, life goes on as usual at the Center of Islam. Fighters from all the provinces of Pakistan, as well as from the disputed region of Kashmir are coming and going, taking respites from their fight in Kashmir at the placid guest house. They are men like Abdullah, serious and purposeful, in his tweed blazer, shalwar kameez, and hiking boots.

One early morning about 10 years ago, Abdullah was on his way to prayers at his neighborhood mosque in Kashmir when he saw the Indian Army surround the mosque and open fire. A few weeks earlier he`d seen his schoolteacher dead on the road, killed by the Indian Army. He was 14 and enraged. He joined the demonstrations outside the UN offices and was stunned by the seeming indifference of the UN. ``So I left behind my pen and took a gun, and until now, my parents don`t know whether I`m alive or dead,`` says Abdullah, a 25-year-old Kashmiri jihadi.

It`s been so long now, he can`t even remember his parents so well, he says. He has no family of his own. He sees all the women of Kashmir as his mothers, all the girls as his sisters. For the past 11 years Abdullah has fought, slept, eaten, and prayed with his brothers in the armed wing of the Jamaat-I-Islami. President Muharraf`s recent actions against them, Abdullah says, will do nothing to stop him. ``We did not start our jihad for the Musharraf government, and we are not obeying his orders,`` he says.

He`s just crossed the border from three months in the mountains of what Pakistanis call ``Indian-held Kashmir`` and Indians call ``Jammu Kashmir.`` And whenever his amir (commander) called him back, he`d go by night and cross over the border. ``Our stand is clear. There`s no compromise,`` he says. ``We demand the Indian Army to quit Kashmir and let us decide our fate according to the 1948 UN resolution, which says that Kashmiris have the right to a plebiscite.``

For Abdullah, jihad is very specific - to liberate Kashmir. He`s not interested in Afghanistan. But behind him sit the spiritual and religious fathers for whom Kashmir is the latest chapter in the struggle of the Muslim world against Western imperialism - and these days, America. ``Rulers may say anything, but listen to the Khateeb [the speaker at Friday prayers],`` says an elderly ideological leader who`s been popular among the Islamist groups since the days of the jihad against the Russians and asked not to be named. ``If all the ulema [Islamic clerics] say, `don`t use American goods,` it can be easily implemented. And ultimately it may go there.``

To the Islamic leaders here, Musharraf has become a puppet of the West. For years, it`s been an open secret that the Pakistani Army was supporting and aiding the jihadi groups. Today, the official Army line is that it will obey the president`s orders, and it is doing so. But a key unanswered question here is how long the Army will continue to do so.

``Our jihadi people are still working with the Army officers who`ve told us they are unhappy about the president`s decision on Afghanistan and our Islamic groups,`` says a professor of one Islamic party here whose leader was arrested. ``Junior officers and soldiers in the mountains are arriving in tears. They say, `We are with you, because you are the people. Now your people are under threat, and it`s painful for us.` But it`s not the right time for us to start street violence. Our enemies will only use it against us.``

Having supported and financed the Afghan jihad against the Russians, and then the Taliban regime, the Pakistani government and leaders paved the way for what many have called the Talibanization of Pakistan. One of those men is retired Gen. Anwar Sher, who unofficially represented the Afghan jihadi groups for the Pakistani Army, and was a strategic adviser to the Taliban in the early days of their emergence.

While he sees Musharraf`s moves as necessary to curb the internal extremism, he warns that no one can control the madrassahs or the jihadi groups unless the Kashmir issue is resolved, and more generally the issue of America`s ``bulldozer`` approach to diplomacy.

``The average Pakistani - in fact any Pakistani - cannot think of Pakistan as complete without Kashmir. It is an unfinished agenda of the partition. The Kashmiris and Pakistanis are so frustrated with the obduracy of India and the negligence of the major powers that they feel they have to do it alone, at any risk, at any cost,`` he says. ``No government can survive if they do not heed the general sentiments of the public, whether it is a military or civilian government.``

Nothing special about the first chapter...

I fear the attack is going to be on Mecca. There would be war... Pakistan and India would be gripped in conflict... so on and so forth.

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