The Dinner Party Coup
*President's House, Karachi. October 7, 1958. 9:00 PM.*
**President Iskander Mirza** speared lamb kebab as artillery rumbled in the distance. *"Another *mullah* protest?"*
**General Ayub Khan** wiped mint chutney from his uniform. *"Worse, Mr. President. Army units... moving without orders."*
Mirza froze as **Brigadier Sher Khan** burst in, pistol drawn: *"Sir, the 10th Brigade surrounds this house. For national stability..."*
Ayub rose calmly. *"Your resignation. Now."*
Mirza's hands shook, staining the Martial Law Ordinance with *rogan josh* grease. *"You American puppet!"*
Ayub pocketed the signed decree. *"No. Pakistan's surgeon."*
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The Poet's Defiance
*Progressive Writers' Meeting, Lahore. Same Night.*
**Faiz Ahmed Faiz** recited verses by kerosene lamp: *"Bol ke lab āzād haiñ tere / Bol zabāñ ab tak terī hai" (Speak, your lips are free / Speak, your tongue is still yours)*.
**Student Ahmed** passed a leaflet: *"Ayub declares martial law! Public gatherings banned!"*
**Fatima** (undercover as a college student) watched police vans screech outside. *"Back door! Through the butcher's shop!"*
Faiz kept reading as lathis smashed windows: *"This scarred night will pass, friends..."*
**Major Hussain** stormed in, tearing the poetry book. *"Your words are treason, *shayar*!"*
Faiz smiled. *"Then arrest the ink."*
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The Interrogation
*Lahore Fort Dungeon. October 9, 1958.*
**Hussain** dangled Faiz's shackled hands over a water tank. *"Who funds your 'progressive' rubbish? Moscow? Delhi?"*
**Faiz** choked: *"Only... broken hearts."*
*"Liar!"* Hussain submerged him. When Faiz gasped back, he slid photos of his daughters. *"Pretty girls. Shame if they learned their father's a traitor."*
**Fatima** watched through a grate, recording with a button camera. *"He'll break,"* whispered her handler.
*"No,"* Fatima said. *"Look at his eyes."*
Faiz spat water, reciting: *"Yé daagh daagh ujaalaa, yé shab gazeeda sahar..." (This stained light, this night-bitten dawn...)*
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The Brothel Safehouse
*Heera Mandi, Lahore. October 12, 1958.*
**Fatima** applied henna as **Begum Jaan**, the madam, scolded: *"Men want dance, not politics!"*
**Ahmed** entered disguised as a client, whispering: *"Hussain moves Faiz to Sahiwal Prison tonight. Truck #786."*
Fatima passed a coded note in a *biryani* pot. *"Tell Kao: Hit at Chauburji Chowk."*
**Begum Jaan** snatched the pot. *"My kitchen feeds lust, not revolutions!"*
Fatima pressed gold bangles into her hands. *"For the *tawaifs* arrested yesterday."*
The madam sighed. *"Allah curse poets and generals."*
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The Ambush
*Chauburji Chowk. 11:30 PM.*
**Hussain**'s convoy halted at a "broken" fruit cart. *"Move that junk!"*
*"Sabr, sahib,"* whined **RAW Agent Vikram** in beggar's rags. *"Old man's back is—"*
*CRACK!* Vikram's pistol dropped the driver.
Commandos stormed the truck as Faiz's guards returned fire. **Fatima** rammed a jeep into Hussain's vehicle, pinning him.
*"Go!"* Vikram yelled, unlocking Faiz's chains.
**Faiz** resisted: *"My people need my voice!"*
Fatima injected sedative into his neck. *"Dead poets inspire no one."*
---
The General's Revenge
*Governor's House, Lahore. Dawn.*
**Ayub Khan** backhanded Hussain. *"One job! Guard a crippled poet!"*
**Hussain** bled from Fatima's knife wound. *"RAW commandos, sir. Professional."*
Ayub hurled a file: *"Faiz's escape route: Amritsar → Delhi. Nehru will parade him like a trophy!"*
He pinned a map to Kashmir. *"Flood the Valley with *mujahideen*. I want Nehru begging at the UN within a year."*
**Bhutto** entered, grinning: *"Operation Gibraltar is ready."*
Ayub crushed Faiz's poetry book under his boot. *"Make Kashmir burn so bright, no one remembers his words."*
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The Exile's Verse
*RAW Safehouse, Delhi. October 20, 1958.*
**Faiz** stared at microphones as **Nehru** offered asylum: *"Condemn Ayub on All India Radio!"*
*"My fight is *with* tyrants, not *for* nations,"* Faiz refused.
Later, **Fatima** found him writing by candlelight:
> *"Qafas udaas hai yaro sabaa se kuch to kaho*
> *Kaheen to beher-e-Khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale"*
> *(The cage mourns, friends, speak to the breeze / Let's talk of the Beloved in God's wilderness today)*
**Kao** read the verse. *"Send this to Lahore. Let the caged hear their dawn is coming."*
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