Chapter 4

The help

The village of Belgarath was silent, like a graveyard. No more of the familiar sounds were heard and fear and chaos enveloped the atmosphere. It was for the first time in the history of Belgarath that it’s peace wase disturbed. The Marwa was totally destroyed, about fifty civilians had lost their lives and more were injured severely. The hopes Of people where crumbled as this old years excavated more and more dead bodies everyday. Food , water and clothes were delivered in helicopters and the whole village was in shock.

After Tariq’s death, Aisha had kept herself locked up in her room for straight three days and Tamina had to stay at Farah's house. Kamran spend his time with Sartai and the other villagers who were grieving just like him. Sartai too had lost his son Aslan whose upper half of the body was found under a huge concrete slab. Aisha was all alone, everyone came to support her and give condolences, but she never allowed herself out. She had to bear the pain of losing her son all alone and from that day onwards she shut down herself, built a wall that no one could penetrate, around her heart. On the fourth day, Kamran brought Tamina to their own house as Aisha had came out and prepared meals for them just like the other days. As soon as she saw her mother, she ran to her arms and hugged her. Aisha hugged her back and then left to kitchen like a robot while Kamran and Tamina stood there watching her leave, sighing.

After a week, Aisha had started to speak in monosyllables and Tamina was happy about it. Farah was her only solace, but after the attack, due to fear, the villagers stayed inside their homes, especially children and women. So both Farah and Tamina were not allowed to see each other and this made both of them very lonely. Tamina knew that her brother had died, but she didn’t completely understood what death really was. For a ten year old Tamina’s notion of death was ‘ dead people turn into ghosts and roam the Bukhara desert.’

Kamran and Aisha dealt with Tariq's death in two different ways. While Aisha shut herself inside her room, Kamran spend his time outside the house, away from Tariq’s memories. As a result, he became more acquitted with Sartai and other villagers who were suffering just like him.

Belgarath was now under curfew to prevent people from entering into Marwa and the soldiers patrolled the whole village. The government needed more time to rebuild the Marwa as it was completely destroyed. Supplies were dropped from the helicopters until a temporary market was set up and every day, more and more military vehicles appeared in Belgarath. Tamina stared at the military keeps passing in front of her house from the courtyard wondering about their destination. Nobody was there for her to clear her doubts and explain what was really going on. She was totally kept in the dark. Everyone ordered her to stay inside the house, but never told her why and she obeyed them without asking any questions.

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Terrorist attack in Belgarath was like a slap to the country’s face and the government was agitated about it. Now the whole village of Belgarath was on spotlight and for the first time in centuries, Belgarath was brought to the attention of the whole world. The terrorists group had demanded Desert Bukhara alone with the village of Belgarath and the government totally decline the demand. They were not ready to give up even an inch of land from their country. Since, their demand was rejected, the government expected further attacks from the terrorists, so they decided to take the preventive measures. As a result, Belgarath was declared an exclusive military zone.

‘ Our intelligence say that it was the Sharia's. Fifty civilians were killed and more than hundreds of them were severly injured. This is an insult to our country and to our rule itself.’ Defence minister Aslykahan fumed curling his fingers, making a fist.

Intelligence Director, Taimoor Ali, Major Ibrahim and commander Jaffis remained silent at the minister’s outburst. Major Ibrahim haven’t got a wink of sleep for the past two weeks since the attack by the terrorist group Sharia. His men were encamped in Belgarath and now he was at the capital, to report the situation to the director of intelligence, Mr. Taimoor Ali.

‘ Can the two of you, the chiefs of Army and airforce, handle the current situation? ‘. Asylkhan asked in his loud voice.

‘ Right now, the excavation and rescuing is going smooth, sir. Fourteen soldiers were killed and about twenty of them were injured during the attack. If they attack again, with our current strength, we won’t be able to protect Belgarath, sir. We need more men.’ Major Ibrahim said.

‘What about you, Commander Jaffis?. Can we engage an airstrike if they attack again?’. Asylkhan asked.

‘ The essential supplies, food, water and clothes are being delivered by our helicopters, sir. We cannot engage an airstrike as long as the civilians are involved because the blast radius of even the least powerful bombs we use in the airstrikes have a large radius and can may even wipe out the whole village itself, sir. ‘ Commander Jaffis said.

Asylkhan remained silent for a minute and then looked at Taimoor Ali.

‘ What’s your decision, director?’.Asylkhan asked.

‘ Belgarath is our Northwest border. Due to the current refugee crisis, we have relocated majority of our military forces to the North, so during the Sharia attacks, it was true that our men were unprepared, exposed and vulnerable. It was our misfortune that they attacked us at a time, when our Northwest was unprotected. ‘ Taimoor Ali explained.

‘ What’s your point, director? ‘. Asylkhan asked.

‘ I have three concerns, sir. First, the Sharia's infiltrated and attacked us when we were vulnerable with less militia at the Northwest border. Did they knew that our forces were relocated to the North were the refugee crisis is going on and then attacked us, or is it merely a coincidence? From what I know, relocating our soldiers to the North was a very confidential operation and only the top officials in military as well as the government were aware of it. Second, we must have an investigation regarding this, because, as you know sir, we have a long history of our own high ranking officials ratting our secret information to the terrorists and we have to be sure that we find the wolf among the sheep, otherwise, whatever decision we take, they will be informed and our plans will be in vain. And the third is that, we need more men at the front. We cannot call back the relocated soldiers in the North or otherwise, the refugee situation will be out of our hands. We need more soldiers to fight at the Northwest border, sir. ‘ Taimoor Ali concluded.

Asylkhan ,who kept nodding his head , took a deep breath and straightened himself in his chair.

‘ We are at an emergency situations and we don’t have enough men to protect the borders, right? Then I think all we need is to ask for help, I guess.’ Asylkhan raised his eyebrows at Taimoor and he scrunched his in confusion.

‘ The joint military treaty with the US. Have you forgotten that, director? ‘ Asylkhan asked with a content smile on his face.

‘The foreign soldiers?, But it will take a lot of time before they arrive here, right?. ‘ Taimoor asked.

‘ Maximum one week. I can promise you that. Leave the rest to me. ‘ Aslykhan ensured the intelligence director .

‘ What do you say, Major?. ‘ Taimoor Ali asked Ibrahim.

‘ In a situation like this, we could use some help from the US Army for sure, but my concern is about the Belgarathians. They are very introverted and unwelcoming, even to our own soldiers. They are Uncooperative to us and to the foreigners, well, I am not sure.’ Ibrahim said.

‘This is a national crisis and their approach to us is not important right now, Major. The foreigners are here to help us, so we should be thankful to them. Don’t bother about the villagers, they will get used to it. ‘ Asylkhan said and Major Ibrahim nodded his head.

‘ Major, I giving you the full responsibility of protecting our Northwest border and to deliver the essential supplies to the soldiers as well as the villagers to you, Commander Jaffis. You both will be informed as soon as the US forces arrives. Keep reporting directly to me and the director until we finds the rat. That’s all for now. You are dismissed’. Asylkhan said.

‘ Yes, sir. ‘ Both Major Ibrahim and Commander Jaffis saluted the minister and left the room.

‘ You know what to do, director. Prepare everything, the ammunition, ration, and all the other things needed for the soldiers. I will get in touch with the US defence minister and they will ask you to brief the situation on Belgarath. I will do my best to bring them within one week time. Is it clear, director? ‘ Aslykhan asked.

‘ Yes minister’. Taimoor Ali said saluting Asylkhan.

He was about to leave the room, Aslykhan said. ‘ Ahh, and one more thing, director. If you can, ask for Colonel Herman Wilde’s troops. ‘

‘Yes sir. ‘ Taimoor Ali nodded his head and without further explanation, Asylkhan left the room with a satisfied smile on his face.