Thread by @amitkhandelia

There are Patriots and then there are patriots like #SehmatKhan. 🙏🙏🙏
Reading #CallingSehmat
@sikka_harinder

@sikka_harinder One evening, as Sehmat was routinely searching through her father-in-law’s top-secret files, she saw something that pulled the ground from under her feet.‘Keep Vikrant within striking range,’ was the brief order. #callingSehmat

@sikka_harinder ‘I am sorry, Abdul, but you have to go. My country comes first,’ she murmured before pressing her right foot on the gas pedal. #callingSehmat

@sikka_harinder ‘I carry the price of your blood on my hands and in my soul, Mehboob Bhai. I wonder if I will be able to live with the guilt,’ she said to the retreating figure. ‘I am truly sorry, but I had to do this. My country comes first.’ #callingSehmat

@sikka_harinder Hidayat 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.' #callingSehmat

‘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. #CallingSehmat

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.

‘Mir, you see that beautiful tricolour? I want to see it flying high when death comes knocking at my door. I have served my mother the best I could and I wish to die in her lap, in my home and definitely not in a foreign country. Let me fade into the corridors of history in peace

Hidayat moved closer to Tej with the intention of comforting her from the blow he was about to deliver. In a soft, almost choked voice he said, ‘Do you think our Sehmat would fit the bill?’ #callingSehmat

‘Please look after Sehmat as your own daughter, Mir. From now on, I leave my most precious possession in your care. We have brought her up with a lot of love. We have taught her what we have always believed in. It would be risky for a young woman to take up such a mission.

Facing him was Sehmat, holding his revolver in her hand, its muzzle pointing towards his forehead. ‘Tell me everything you know. And don’t involve emotions or use them as blackmail. I am here to do a job for my country. And I will not let anyone come in the way. Not even you.’

As Sehmat walked past the officials, she was showered with rose petals and offered bouquets. She did not personally know anyone in the crowd but graciously accepted their greetings. #CallingSehmat

She knelt down and placed her head on the tarmac. Tears trickled down from Sehmat’s eyes. She kissed the cemented floor and whispered, ‘Oh my dear Motherland, how I missed you. Thank you for having me back.’ #CallingSehmat

Taking the podium, he looked at Tej and wondered if he could even think of doing what the Khans had done for the country. It dawned on him that while he could sacrifice himself a hundred times, he would find it difficult to send his children into the jaws of death. #CallingSehmat

Could you help me settle down in Maler Kotla?’ ‘Maler Kotla? Where is that? And why there?’ ‘It is Abdul’s home town,’ Sehmat replied with a sorrowful expression. ‘And who is Abdul?’ ‘He was the most faithful servant of the Sayeeds.’ #CallingSehmat

Was soon after that the navy’s strategists were given a green signal for their mission ‘Bomb Karachi’. On 1 December 1971, the Indian Navy, for the first time in its history, was issued sealed orders to attack Karachi. #CallingSehmat

Sunderjeet addressed the holy book. ‘I am thankful to you for bestowing me with everything. I have one more request to make. Having been assigned this task, please ensure that I either fulfil my duty or do not come back. I will prefer a dignified death than failure.’

‘Every soldier waits his whole life for an opportunity to take on the enemy head-on. That’s what we are trained for all our lives. Yet, only a select few get chosen. And by the grace of God, I have been presented with such an opportunity. Thus the celebration.’ #CallingSehmat