Fiction: Mahmud and Ayaz travel from Somnath to Kashmir as questions of citizenship arise

As far as Suleiman was concerned, things went according to plan. Rumours were spread about the plot to blow up the entire Indian Cabinet when it met for a meeting planned that summer in New Delhi, and the police were tipped off with a view to sending them on a wild goose chase.

It was Khosravi who first noticed a police picket on the lake and forewarned his guests. After scouring houseboats from one end of the lake to the other, the team finally reached Mission Kashmir. Mahmud, Ayaz and Khosravi were interrogated, their belongings searched. It wasn’t long before the policemen laid their hands on Mahmud’s script.

“What’s this?” they asked him, pleased that their investigation had yielded results.

Mahmud answered as Suleiman had briefed him, but the constables who did not read English weren’t convinced. Ayaz and he would have to be taken into custody, they said. Khosravi made frantic calls to Suleiman. He was afraid the two Bombay boys would be thrashed to death at the police station to extract a confession from them. This happened in Jammu and Kashmir every day.

Senior officers questioned Mahmud and Ayaz at the police station.

“I am a researcher, sir,” Mahmud told them, “With a doctor’s degree from Bombay University. I’m in...

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