Generosity

Their love blossomed and culminated in marriage, much against the

wishes of their families. Braving boycotts from both sides, the young

couple settled down to married life. Sehmat was born after two years and

brought along boundless joy, laughter and warmth to the already content

household. Conscious of the raised eyebrows due to their cross-cultural

alliance, both Tej and Hidayat worked hard to bring up their daughter,

teaching and instilling in her the real meaning of secularism.

Being educated and sensible, Hidayat and Tej kept themselves away

from undue religious influences and dictates. Neither parent forced any

religion on their daughter. Instead, they encouraged her to understand

different faiths and appreciate the importance of humanity, integrity,

patriotism and honour.

Sehmat grew up watching her parents practise two different religions

yet live in complete harmony under the same roof. Neither infringed on

the other’s choice of religious duties. The room set aside for prayers and

meditation had pictures of Mecca, Hindu gods and goddesses as well as

other saints and sufis. Sehmat was particularly fascinated by Meerabai’s

hymns and often joined her mother in singing them.

‘God is one,’ her parents told her repeatedly. ‘And He is not someone

who can be summoned by merely holding the Holy Quran and Gita or

wearing a tilak on the forehead. He is without a predefined form and

resides inside you. He is omnipresent and can only be seen by the purity

of one’s mind and heart.’ Little did she realize at that time that these very

values would make her one of the most respected and trusted citizens of the countrySehmat was greatly influenced by her father. Hidayat’s generosity and

positive thinking were legendary in Srinagar. One particular trait of her

father, which not only appealed to her but also made her want to emulate

him, was his undying love for his watan, his country, India. Father and

daughter would go on long walks amidst huge chinar trees, one of their

most cherished pastimes. Sehmat would listen to her father with rapt

attention as they would trek on the narrow pathways in the Valley and

learn by heart lessons on patriotism, culture and traditions.

It was during one of those walks that Hidayat, totally consumed by

what he was teaching her, stopped abruptly, took her hands in his and

said in a voice wrought with emotion, ‘We are what we are thanks to our

motherland, Sehmat. Nothing can be more disgraceful than to be disloyal

to her. I was born here and I must give my best to this soil. When I

merge into it, my conscience should be proud of having lived an honest,

faithful and grateful life.’

That evening the young Sehmat saw a different Hidayat. She met a

man who was passionate and emotive beyond her imagination and

respected humanity more than any religion on earth. For the first time in

her life she understood what watan really meant to him. This observation

was to play a crucial part in her life in the years to come.

As she grew up, Sehmat learnt of her father’s role in easing tensions

between Hindus and Muslims and his efforts towards spreading harmony

between the communities. Hidayat was the final word in settling disputes

and conflicts and would always help those in real financial need. Many

Kashmiri Pandits would narrate to her incidents where Hidayat’s

intervention had helped in building bridges between followers of the two

faiths.

Thereafter higher education took Sehmat away from the Valley to

Delhi, where, besides pursuing her graduation and playing the violin in

her spare time, she also learnt Indian classical dance. When she would

return to Kashmir for a vacation, she would be regaled with more tales of

her father’s timely intervention and both communities’ indebtedness to

her family for spreading peace and harmony in the Valley. The number

of such stories increased each time Sehmat visited Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Hidayat’s reputation and goodwill as an honest and

upright businessman spread far and wide. He was an icon of sorts in the

region. His enterprise and large-heartedness catapulted him and his

business to the other side of the barbed wire, which, by virtue of the

demarcations made post Partition, was now called Pakistan. Hidayat

went across regularly to attend to his chores, and add more friends,

contracts and businesses to his strength, blissfully unaware that his

actions were being closely monitored far away in a plush office in the

capital of India. This was the Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research

and Analysis Wing). Some senior officials approached him and sought

his help to establish an information-gathering network inside Pakistan.

Apart from his extensive network, it was Hidayat’s legendary love and

devotion towards his country that made him an ideal candidate for the

purpose. His flourishing business establishments across the border could

provide the perfect foil needed for their operations.

Hidayat readily agreed to the proposal even though he was made

aware of the risks that his acceptance could invite. He even went a step

further by suggesting innovative ideas for gathering information. His

merchandise, especially liquor, used to be shipped across the border due

to the prevailing prohibition in Pakistan. He proposed to decrease the

quantity of each shipment but increase the frequency, thus helping

reduce the time gap in retrieving information from across the border.

Using his business acumen, he painstakingly spread his network into the

cities of Lahore, Islamabad and Multan, and also made inroads into the

Pakistani army brass. During the 1965 Indo–Pak war, Hidayat’s network

became a major source of information gathering. Despite the

unsophisticated communication systems of those years, his trusted team

devised innovative techniques to transfer huge amounts of confidential

documents manually into India, thereby saving the lives of hundreds of

Indian soldiers.

While Pakistan experienced humiliating defeat at the hands of the

Indian armed forces in this war, Hidayat won the heart and confidence of

the Indian government by rendering commendable services. Strangely,

he was able to maintain his credibility across the border too, and, despite

the defeat, the Pakistani government did not suspect his involvement.Growing from strength to strength, he further expanded his business

chain and deepened the penetration into Pakistani army camps by

strengthening the supply chain and providing free liquor to the Generals.

Prohibition across the border not only added to his profits, it also helped

grow his business.

The dawn of 1969, however, brought in its wake a rude shock for the

Khans. During a routine medical check-up, a lump in Hidayat’s neck was

diagnosed to be cancerous. Further investigations and tests revealed that

the deadly disease had spread its tentacles beyond control. Tej was

shattered by the news but Hidayat seemed unperturbed and indifferent to

the development. His mind was focused elsewhere.

Trouble was brewing in the army camps across the border. Hidayat

had been steadily receiving reports confirming that the other side was

planning a confrontation. He kept grumbling to Tej about how unhappy

he was with the bad timing of his ailment. Much to Tej’s consternation,

instead of paying attention to his failing health, Hidayat put all his

energies and efforts into accumulating data and transferring it to the

intelligence officers in India.

East Pakistan had by then become a sore point for Pakistan. Egged on

by misguided warlords with vested interests, Pakistan’s leadership

accused India of fomenting trouble in the state. Tej was privy to the new

developments, having herself transferred vital information to New Delhi

on several occasions, but her husband’s indifference towards his illness

tormented her.

The very thought of losing Hidayat without making any efforts of

treating him medically weighed heavily on her mind. Besides this,

watching him in extreme pain unnerved her. Finally, Tej gathered the

courage to dial a contact in New Delhi. The government machinery

began to move quickly. Twenty-four hours later, when Hidayat walked

into his oak-panelled study after namaz, he found two immaculately

dressed officials waiting for him. Both men were high-ranking officials

from the Indian intelligence. Having interacted with them for many

years, Hidayat knew them well. Yet he was surprised by their visit.

Manav Chowdhary, code-named Mir, was the head of RAW. It was he

who had first approached Hidayat a decade ago for setting up theinformation-gathering network in Pakistan. Both men had grown to

admire and respect each other immensely.

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