Lilies Glow

Third Land

Cells from hell

River of Blood

Bilal Emran

At first there was that principle. A firm and powerful principle which is the support of religion. The religion that started as strange and here it comes back strange as the Prophet said. He does not know how this certainty evolved and changed, to take other different forms and use blood as a way to achieve farther and dirtier interests!. It is not known when this young man, who is full of God’s love and the apostle, turned into a mere cog rotates in a big machine whose name is politics!

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the glowing golden rays flowed from the flaming disk in the sky, carrying light and more temperatures that made Malhotra’, the Indian soldier, sweating , so he rushed to bring in an iced water bottle, to stick it to his face as his usual habit to relieve the heat. Malhotra is one of the soldiers of the border guards in the Indian Army and that place is one of the crossings between India and Pakistan in the Bora region, which belongs to the disputed territory of Kashmir between the two countries . Calm and silence flood the desert air at the crossing, especially at such a time of day.. the noon. In that period,the matters was stable in the territory, but it is like a situation that does not last. From time to time, there are some armed skirmishes between soldiers on the Indian and Pakistani sides, which result in more bloods and injuries.

After he brought the water bottle, he walked back to his position leisurely while looking at the ground and straying at the patches of weed strewn here and there till he noticed something lying on the sands. that thing had the dimensions of a small box and at the same moment his ears picked up this monotonous sound that looks like clock beats. He approached to be an inch away from it, and then knelt to look further. The monitor’s voice accelerated and the heartbeat of Malhotra also, who in less than second moderated in view of his colleagues, and before he shouted to warn them, the timer had reached to zero and his body scattered his bloody parts at the crossing where a horrific explosion rang out!.

Less than one hour later, satellites were reporting the news of the treacherous attack on the Border Patrol in Bora , which killed five people and more than a dozen injured. India denounced that heinous crime,and threw the charge at neighbouring Pakistan. The Pakistani group Saif al-Fajr then claimed responsibility for the attack, following by hostile statements between the two countries.

In front of the TV screen, Bilal sat down following the news across Pakistani and Indian screens, and with a confident smile he received words of congratulations from the prince of the group via his email, to the successful task at the border. He then filled his eyes with scenes of the dead and wounded left behind by the explosion.

Bilal grew up in one of Lahore’s small towns, and after graduating from the School of Engineering he took a very different route from his studies. In his homeland, his religious nature was breeding ground for any terrorist group to plant its seeds. Pakistan, one of the countries hit most by attacks by militant groups, which has also received numerous accusations of being a sponsor of terrorism and extremist Islamic groups.

So to untangle the case , we’ll start from the beginning. After the Muslim Pakistan secession from India, Muslims were subjected to ethnic persecution so historical hostility began between the two countries. Pakistan is an Islamic State whose history is based on its Islamic religious identity, and as usual the policy intervenes to make things more dark and complex. At first, Pakistan allied itself with America to heal the wounds of secession from India. Pakistani military members also aspired to annex Afghanistan to their front against India. Hence, the Pakistan Army’s support for Afghan extremist groups such as the Taliban and the Haqqani network, This is in addition to Pakistani extremist groups, But since the United States declared war on terror, Pakistan had to chose between... either give up the support of the United States and lose Afghanistan as an ally or vice versa. The aim of the fighting groups was initially to liberate Afghanistan from the western invasion and defend muslims in Kashmir against persecution. But after overlapping political interests and intelligence funding for some of those groups, the weapon became directed at everything that was not Islamist, such as attacks on Christians by the free group , and attacks on Shiites by the Askar Janjoy group. That’s how the circle of blood shed and is not over. The Saif al-Fajr group began as a terrorist cell recruiting youth enthusiastic about the case to carry out attacks throughout Pakistan. After joining the cell and his recognised capabilities from the prince of the group, Bilal rose from carrying out operations to planning to become the vice prince , who aspires to become that nascent cell one day like the Taliban or al-Qaida.

At first there was that principle. A firm and powerful principle which is the support of religion. The religion that started as strange and here it comes back strange as the Prophet said. He does not know how this certainty evolved and changed, to take other different forms and use blood as a way to achieve farther and dirtier interests!. It is not known when this young man, who is full of God’s love and the apostle, turned into a mere cog rotates in a big machine whose name is politics!

And so Bilal continued his spin in that machine, and despite the shreds and blood that his eyes are now looking at through the screens, he did not rethink what the construction he built over the foundation of the devout young Bilal who buried him under the dirt.

****

For the first time since they set foot on that land, they hear a human whining !. There in that empty space between the trees, they stood in an incomplete circle watching Ibo and his soul was extracting drop by drop from his body, while none of them could approach an inch to help him, even Milan retreated from the center of the black giant’s scene while glued to the tree, and when he did not bear more , he turned his back to the group to leave, but Ramo firmly stopped him saying:

- You won’t leave before you finish what you did!

He then continued :

- Your presence has become a danger to us, we can kill you here and now.

Milan turned around and said in an impending tone of tears:

- I was defending myself, didn’t you see what he did to me?

Bilal moved to bring wooden spear which they made from tree branches , then he put it in to Milan hand saying :

-Do it now . finish his pain.

Milan’s hand on the javelin shook. the others withdrew one by one from the place. They all stood waiting for Milan to come back until they saw him coming and his body was still shivering . by his leadership manner, Ramo spoke quietly:

-We will leave that land!

It was hours of walking, until they were surprised by a white snowflake falling heavily. The leaves of the coarse red trees were falling to the ground also . They all stopped when they noticed that the leaves was shaking on the ground ! And before someone uttered , they were surprised by those dead leaves which life exploded In It and turned into hundreds of birds that was making sharp sounds like bats, leaving their positions on the ground heading to sky ! . A panic overwhelmed everyone . they escaped, putting their hands on their faces unaware of the destination they were heading to . It’s been minutes. they Stopped running. The flying leaves covered the sky page . calm prevailed . The group finally stopped to find that they’were on the borders of a new land.

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At one of the group ’s headquarters, an operations management session was held to discuss the details of the upcoming operation, which took the name .. Dawn number 23. The first session involved the Prince, his deputy and two men who were taking direct command of the operations. the outline was detected and all details of the implementation under it were discussed. It was obvious that the new operation differed from all the processes the group had adopted to that moment as the operations were directed at Indians at the border or at Christians and Shiite ′ inside.this time, the goal is dangerous and if they succeed in their endeavour, the Fajr group will take significant steps forward. The strike this time will be for the American presence in Pakistan!.

They knew from a reliable source that a session would be held at a major Islamabad hotel, involving the American Ambassador and a group of American and Pakistani diplomats as well. And it’s lucky for the group, or maybe it’s bad luck! , that this particular hotel is easily accessible through some of its employees, who are reliable because of their loyalty to the Fajr group and its prince. Everyone felt that this strike would be a powerful slap in the face of the states and their alliances from within, and most importantly would change the map of the extremists groups inside, Fajr group will jump to a much higher place, but Bilal announced his dissenting opinion:

- I agree that if we did it successfully , it will change a lot of things, but I don’t trust it will be all for the better. Hostility exists with the states. There is no doubt of that, but by that process it will take flagrant form, we do not want to open fire against a front as powerful as America, even that the operation succeed and whether it succeeded or failed , the group will be at risk, even if there are some elements that support us from the military.

The Prince spoke:

- Our way is the path of danger. It’s not logical to avoid the possibilities of danger. Risk and courage are wanted to reach the desired results. Fates don’t change easily, Bilal. We pay for them from our personal security .

One of the leaders spoke:

-I agree with our Prince, Bilal, fate threw us that opportunity, and of course we will not waste it in order to avoid the consequences. This has been our oath since we joined the group

The Prince reiterated:

- It has been decided, we are here to discuss the details of the process, because this time the implementation will be different!. Eyes were focused to the Prince’s face, who continued:

- We will sacrifice one of our sons, because it will be a martyrdom operation .

That handsome young man with a light beard appeared in the council and took his place in real pride. he is a trusted worker at that high-end hotel, as well as one of the young men of the group who is passionate about giving his soul to God and religion. He has no doubt about it. He was so sure and believer in that matter , otherwise what drives a young barely finished adolescence , to give up his presence in that life? Is there a greater force of faith than that? We disagree with him but he doesnot see that.. he will die, but rather that he will move to life in paradise because he defends God, his apostles and his religion. So he programmed his mind like a computer. others see him as a young demon terrorist who will take so many lives, and he sees himself as a soldier of truth who carries out God’s justice in the earth. The young man’s enthusiastic talk proceeded , and they began to study all the details, but Bilal did not have a clear and focus enough mind to their talks as he was reflecting on that young man, the unwavering believer in his cause. He remembered himself a lot at the beginning of his association with the group , that purity in the eyes and certainty! Surely he now sees himself in the house of martyrs and apostles !. He didn’t think much about ideologies of Politics, and that in that life there is not a single scale to evaluate things to get to the truth about it, but each side and each point of view has its own scale, the right in some people scale is wrong in other people scale . That’s how Bilal thought while looking to the excited boy sitting in front of him, and for the first time since joining the group.. the doubt appeared in his eyes .

The thin white snowflakes continued to fall on them, until they put their legs on the white sand, and although this white surroundings suggests coolness to the point of freezing, the weather returned to its former moderation like the first land. The sun was sending its last red light on them, as they followed their steady march on that white land, until they stopped successively on the edges of that transparent ice sheet which was like thin glass- layer and they could see the water from below. Aung sat leaning on her knees and touched the ice with shaky hands and then mumbled:

- It’s not cold!

Ramo took his position to test the strength of its durability as he dealt Successive blows to the ice with his spear , without stirring up any scratch, then he made abold step on the glass surface under their awaiting sights.He turned to them, saying:

- Don’t be afraid of it, come on!

Hesitantly, Bilal stepped forward, then Milan, and after they tookfew steps away, they were followed by the three women. The sounds of their steps on the ice continued clear, soft and monotonous, breaking the silence that enveloped them and escorted them as a soft soundtrack. the sunshine began to retreat slowly ,until the night finally came. The sky was dark and the moons were absent, but nevertheless, the darkness did not include the ice From under their feet!

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The eyes moved in the quarries back and forth, with the active movement in that high-end hall that pulsed with talk and activity . Soft oriental music flowed in the place, and the girls’ bodies swung in slow dancing movements. the eyes was watching them for seconds , then turning back to the heated debates. The whole scene is received by the senses of a young man with a light beard, while he was standing steadily , in that high-end hall that brought together important diplomatic figures from the American and Pakistani sides at that informal meeting. Music barely was entering to his ears, and the active overlapping movements turned into a slow moving scene. From time to time he carries his tray to serve drinks for this or that, and then returns to his position in the distinctive place of hotel workers. He was following everyone’s lips moving to bring out many and many conversations that address important political issues which he is not aware of and he does not care to be aware of . His case and greater consciousness boils down to a few simple words which he makes no effort to think about as they are axiomatic.

The situation is simple. He will blow himself up in minutes here amid this infidel gathering. few words coming out of their mouths turning into debates and then resolutions and then hostile acts then their attacks hit Islam and Muslims in his country and in the rest of the nation.That’s the whole thing in his mind. Despite this unwavering belief in him, in those last minutes of life, he began to have fears of death.

in these last moments .. questions started roaming his mind lounges insistently... Do I give my soul in the right place? Am I right? Why did the right become a blur those days?

Moments have passed, then he has flicked all the hesitation and questioning of his mind... you must complete what you started.. his mind simply told him. His heartbeat has accelerated and his breath has grown hotter. moments and he will know the truth. moments and the fog which cover all the eternal unknown will go away . The scene stopped in front of him in those intervening seconds, he wanted to mention the shahada before he pressed the thing that he hid under his clothes, but what his tongue

said just before that resounding explosion was ... God.. i hope I’m right!

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They all stopped to rest after it went dark. They sat on the ice layer with their eyes attached to the bottom as they were fascinated by this amazing scene. The water beneath the ice was full of radioactive luminous coral grasses which colored in the finest colors, and it was full of hundreds of small aquatic creatures, which are fish-like, turtles and snakes.

From the splendour of the scene, none of them sat down, they all laid to meditate on that water paradise that took them magically away from this wild world they threw in. Minutes later, Bilal returned to the seating position.He held his bag and opened its zip to bring out one of those fruits he filled the bag with. Milan looked at him with wonder and then said:

- Did you bring that raw meat with you?

Bilal said nonchalantly :

- We do not guarantee our food in this march, and if you want another answer I like the taste of it ! Does this hurt you?

Milan issued a nausea expression but was not followed by a reply from Bilal. Ramo intervened:

- I think it’s better to throw it away, you don’t know, Bilal, this fruits maybe turn into deadly poison out of its homeland .

Bilal filled his mouth with one of the fruits and then swallowed it and said:

- I don’t think so. I’m here and I didn’t get any bad.

Ramo looked at him with focused glances and then he turned his head away . Asia’ glimpsed him after she moderated in sitting down, and without realizing that .. she couldn’t take her eyes off him, she feels like as if she’s almost sure she has seen him before! As she was looking at him without focus , she didn’t notice that his looks came back from its round to be focused on her face , and when she realized that , her heartbeat accelerated and she turned her head to the other side. she found Aung still lying on her side reflecting on the world below, and found Taqyia sitting, moving her sights between her and Ramo, and on her lips she drew that insidious, provocative smile . Asia told her in sharp tone:

- Is there something here that makes you smile that way , Taqyia?

Taqyia closed her eyes and her body shook with light laugh, then she got up to sit near Asia and said:

- Why all that anger I see in your eyes? I’m curious to know your crime!

Asia quietly said:

-I don’t want to be rude to you, but I don’t want to talk about my past life, nor do I want to know anything about you.

-Why is it so bad to talk? you are not the only one with a painful past here, but that’s certainly your right, even though I don’t mind spending time talking, our end is close anyway.

Asia looked at her and said with a smile:

- I apologize to you , i was so tough with you . if you want to talk about your life, i will be good listening ears .

She smiled sadly and said:

- no , you are right . i also cannot open the doors of the past. Well, forget what i said and I have to apologize for harassing you.

- you donot have to be sorry . Maybe we get out of here by the end on our legs. Maybe we get out of here two girlfriends who have managed to escape from hell!

As time went on and the dark power grew, the glare was increasing below. the activity of marine organisms and their circulatory movement among corals,so you can feel the noise of life exuded from that picturesque aquatic painting!. Life with its picturesque glow that drives beings to move and live, this glow that is extinguished only by their death. While the plaque below was filled with vitality and activity, the plaque on top of the ice layer was dormant, although they were still breathing, this glow was completely extinguished within them.

they went to sleep with the exception of Ramo, who Asia saw walking away carefully. she took the sleep position looking at the glow below, when she saw it flashing....Intermittent flash like pulse .. which reminded her of something she doesnot know.

****

Few sips of hot coffee from that plastic cup and waiting . Waiting for the breaking of those clouds that have flooded his world’s sky since the last operation that turned the whole world over . American feedback foreshadows the coming blackness. A state of emergency has been declared throughout the country. Arrests of many of the group’s followers inside and those outside. The prince’s total disappearance and the arrest of one of the operational commanders. Bilal sighed at his session on that seat in Gilchen Iqbal Park, the largest park in Lahore where he was waiting for Sajid ..the second commander of operations as he was hoping to hear any news that would dissipate those clouds. Another sip then he retreat back, to find that Sajid sits on the other end of the seat. His face was frightened, he said looking ahead:

-Prince is fine, Bilal. we’ll wait for the storm to pass and then we’ll get our plans back. His words believed.. the Fajr group topped the map of Pakistan’s jihadist groups!.

-What map are you talking about, Sajid? We’re already done. Tell me who’s left of us now?

-The prince will reappear after the crisis passes with the remnants of the group, and then we will re-emerge.

-So all we have to do is wait!

- Bilal, you won’t wait!

- What do you mean?

- Your soul will give redemption for the group!.

The cup fell from Bilal’s hand against his will , but Sajid sooner said:

- You will be the scapegoat of the Prince and the group, this is the agreement between the Prince and the Army members supporting us. You will be arrested as the prince of the group! This step will put out a lot of fire, and it will be clear to everyone that our group is over.

Bilal spoke as he breathed fire from his mouth:

- That easy?

-You’re nothing less than that guy who blew himself up in the hotel, you’re gonna save us all!

- truly? Why don’t you do it?

- The Prince’s choice signed on you , because he trusts you will sacrifice yourself!

Bilal’s breath accelerated and he only saw the next blackness. there’s a bee buzzing in his mind right now, he doesn’t remember any of his old convictions in those moments, he just wants his personal safety ! Before leaving, Sajid said his last words:

- Remember that death has been our constant companion since we joined the group. Now it’s your turn and tomorrow it will be my turn, those moments of fear won’t make you forget the cause you were living for!

Bilal mashed the plastic cup down his boot with hateness , then he got up from his session to leave the place while squeezeing his cheek to call out any shred of faith in his case, but as if it evaporated completely. another matter appeared as another stronger realization , which is to escape with his life!. He rushed on the road out of the Green Park and then pointed his hand at the first Taxi passing by him. When he took his position in the back seat, he ended up hearing the noise from the back. he saw the driver looking curiously to the back glass. His limbs trembled and he had no power to turn his face back . He realized that the noise was for him, even before the door next to him was opened , and even before those cold nozzles was pointed at his head, he knew! He knew this noise in the back was for him!

****

The sun took its way up after the dawn of a new day, scattering its orange rays here and there. Ramo was the first who stood on the bank of that narrow river, which he discovered at the end of ice layer ! .There is another flowering land on the opposite bank, it just requires crossing this narrow waterway to reach it. the river wasn’t running fast and it seemed not so deep , but that bloody color red of water! and those things were floating here and there! which you don’t know.. Are they dirty remnants or are they human beings like them dead here?

Everyone caught up with him after the sun woke them up. they stood on that edge studying their next step. Bilal said after the silence:

- All we have to do is crossing , I think it’s not deep!

Aung said with fear:

- We don’t know which wild beings live below!

Ramo mumbled:

- We have no other solution!.

They looked at each other anxiously , then Bilal made the first step inside the river. Ramo asked him:

- Your bag, isn’t it heavy?

Bilal said while wading through the water indifferently :

-No!

The rest stood on the bank with fear . The water was down Ramu and Bilal’s chin. Milan encouraged himself and landed as well to catch up with them, then he followed by the three women. The bloody water level was as low as Bilal predicted, not exceed their neck, but their walk in the water was slow, and a sense of sickness flooded everyone from that dirty water . few steps left to arrive the other bank, until Aung fired a scream then drowned down the water!

They all stopped and exchanged terrified looks. The dirty water didnot let them know what the shallow depths hold, and as usual Ramo was the leader who acted first!. He went down the water to find Aung down there writhing. there was no crocodile or shark catching one of her limbs, because of panic she thought it was like she was fighting something fictitious! .. she only tripped. Ramo scrambled to dive by her side until he grabbed her and lifted her head up the water. Aung took deep gasps to get air that she missed for seconds. Ramo reassured them that nothing was below and urged them to speed up.

Ramo continued to advance to the other bank as he was resisting the horror of what he saw underneath the water when Aung fell !. Their foots finally touched the sand, and then they threw themselves on it while they were gasping and groaning. they didn’t know the secret of their pain that they suddenly had after leaving the water, but Ramo knew the secret of those pains! He also knew why Bilal laid on his back as he was getting his last breath out in front of their terrified eyes!!.