Tucked behind dense thickets and adjoining the ruins of a seventeenth-century serai, or travellers’ lodge, the Firdaus Masjid in Islamabad was small in size but not in fame. It was built in
allegiance to the all-mighty Mughal Empire in Delhi. Tourists flocked to the mosque and the serai three days a week: Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the complex attracted the faithful, who would come to offer prayers, especially on special occasions.   

The mosque, which was smaller than most other mosques in Islamabad, rose thirty feet from the ground and was conspicuous by its perfectly circular dome. It was built on an elevated stone
base that was square in shape and measured fifty feet on all sides.

It was 8 p.m. on a Tuesday night and pitch dark. Thanks to the three electric poles erected inside, however, the mosque complex was bathed in a pale, milky-white light.

Standing in front of the seventeenth-century mosque, Atharv could see through the tall arched front entrance and the three other successive arched entrances that got progressively smaller.

Five hours ago, when Atharv and his comrades from the CTC were on their way to Islamabad from Muzaffarabad, Hamza had blurted out their destination. ‘We are going to Firdaus Masjid to
offer prayers for two Lashkar martyrs,’ he had said. 

The funeral prayer was to be offered in absentia as the men had died far from their homeland and their bodies were not present. Hamza had also told them that Abu-Lakhvi, LeT’s operational commander, would be at the mosque that evening to oversee the performance of the funeral rites for the two suicide attackers. They had died during an exchange of fire with the Special Operations Cell (SOC) in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir.

The two Pakistani youth, Aftab and Qayyum, both aged twenty-two, had been sent as reinforcements to Kashmir after six other Lashkar operatives had died in firefights with the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army and SOC had gotten wind of the two boys’ arrival and had sent a QRT to storm their hideout.


To be continued....