Q. Write the summary of the novel The Plague Upon Us by Shabir Ahmad Mir.
The Characters in the Plague Upon Us by Shabbir Ahmad
The Plague Upon Us Summary
The Plague Upon Us is a novel by Shabir Ahmad Mir, published by Hachette India on August 1, 2020. Set in 1990s Kashmir, it presents a powerful depiction of life in 1990s Kashmir, where the deep political turmoil and violence become not only physical threats but also a metaphorical plague upon its people.
The Plague Upon Us was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature in 2021, further establishing its literary significance in contemporary Indian fiction.
The Epigraph
At the very beginning of the book, before the main story starts, there is a direct quote from Oedipus Rex. This quote sets the tone for the entire novel by linking the suffering of a city to a plague.
The epigraph reads:
‘By such deaths, past numbering, the city perishes:
unpitied, her children lie on the ground, spreading pestilence,
with none to mourn:
and meanwhile young wives, and grey-haired mothers with them,
uplift a wail at the steps of the altars, some here, some there,
entreating for their weary woes.
The prayer to the Healer rings clear, and blent therewith
the voice of lamentation.’Oedipus Rex
SOPHOCLES
This quote is crucial because it establishes the novel’s central metaphor: the conflict in Kashmir is not just a political struggle but a “plague” and a “pestilence” that is causing the city to perish, just as in the ancient tragedy.
Additionally, on the “Praise for The Plague upon Us” page at the beginning of the book, a review from author Mirza Waheed explicitly highlights this connection:
A loose reimagining of Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, The Plague upon Us shines a bright light on the unspeakable horrors of the dirty war that has been waged in Kashmir for decades.
These references show that the author intentionally frames his modern story of trauma within the timeless structure of a classic Greek tragedy, suggesting that the themes of fate, hidden truths, and a land suffering from a deep-seated wrong are universal.
The story begins with a description of a land ravaged by a vicious, dark plague. This plague is not a disease of the body but one of the spirit. It is a condition born of anger and nurtured by despair.
The young men on the streets are filled with red rage during the day and black despair at night. They are trapped in a cycle of violence. They throw stones forged from their misery at the men in uniforms.
These men in khaki and olive are always ready with their guns. They fire bullets and pellets, which are described as the very seeds of the plague. These seeds plant themselves in the bodies and eyes of the youth, leaving them with scars and darkness.
A local preacher, Maulvi Saab, says the people have brought this plague upon themselves by turning away from God. But a voice inside the narrator’s head whispers that he knows who is truly to blame.
The narrator then wakes up in a strange, bright room that smells funny. A man is sitting beside him, a man he thinks of as a king. This king is like a doctor or a therapist. He sees that a voice in his head torments the narrator.
The voice wants to know who brought the plague upon them. To help the narrator make sense of everything, the king asks him to tell a story. He tells him that he must tell a tale to pass the night; otherwise, a virgin will die every minute. And so, looking at the clock on the wall, the narrator begins the first tale.
The novel is structured around four different tales, each narrated from the perspective of one of the main characters. This non-linear approach offers the reader the opportunity to piece together the fragmented history of Kashmir.
The First Tale
The First Tale begins with the story of a boy named Oubaid Pohal. He was born during a freezing and challenging winter. His family were shepherds, known as Pohals, but they were very póor.
Oubaid’s father, Aziz Pohal, was a humble man who worked on farms to support his family. He loved the mountains and dreamed of being a true shepherd. Oubaid’s mother, Maimoona, came from a very different background.
Her family, the Zaeldars, had once been powerful landlords who owned vast stretches of land. They lived in a huge, old mansion called Zaeldar Kouet. Because Maimoona had married a poor shepherd, she was treated like an outsider by her own family.
As a child, Oubaid often visited the Zaeldar mansion with his mother. He was afraid of the big, dark house. It felt like a giant cave to him. His mother would do chores for her relatives, like sweeping and scrubbing.
In return, she was given leftover food and old clothes. This made Oubaid’s father, Aziz, very sad. At the mansion, Oubaid’s cousin, Tufail Zaeldar, acted like a prince.
He was proud and possessive and would not let Oubaid touch his expensive toys. Tufail also had a younger sister named Jozy Jan, but he kept her away from Oubaid.
Oubaid found his only real happiness with his childhood friend, a girl named Sabia Puj. Sabia’s family, the Pujs, were butchers who had become more successful over the years. Her father, Hamid Puj, was a very ambitious man who disliked his family’s background and wanted to become a respected figure.
In the old, unused bandsaw mill owned by Sabia’s father, Oubaid and Sabia created a secret world. They imagined it was a beautiful palace where they could be rulers, safe from the taunts and social rules of the outside world. This make-believe palace was their special place of innocence.
This peaceful childhood was destroyed when Oubaid’s father was murdered. The army brought his body back from the mountains. It was frozen and showed clear signs of brutal torture. His nails had been pulled out, and his teeth were broken.
This terrible and unjust death brought new people into Oubaid’s life. A journalist named Iftikhar Wani came to their home to investigate the murder. His young son, Muzzafar, accompanied him.
Seeing Oubaid’s grief, Muzzafar came to him and said, “You are not alone. We stand with you.” A deep friendship was born between the two boys.
After some time, Iftikhar Wani was also killed because he was revealing the story behind the murder of Aziz Pohar.
On Eid, Sabia brought a game of Snakes and Ladders for Oubaid. They were playing when Tufail and his sister Jozy came. Tufail lost the game and insulted Sabia, calling her a “puj-girl.” Sabia left in anger. Oubaid felt bad but joined Tufail and Jozy’s laughter just to fit in.
Later, Tufail invited Oubaid to play cricket. He even asked if Sabia could join them. But Sabia didn’t want to go to Zaeldar Kouet. She said Tufail should come to the bandsaw mill instead.
Tufail agreed. But he started the bandsaw machine during the visit, scaring everyone. When Hamid Puj, Sabia’s father, saw who Tufail was, he let it slide.
After that, things changed. Tufail, Sabia, and Oubaid played together. However, it was no longer the same as it had been before. Sabia was sent to a better school, and Oubaid saw her rarely.
The only good thing was that Muzzafar, the journalist’s son, joined Oubaid’s school. His father had been tortured and later killed. Muzzafar and Oubaid became close friends.
Time passed. Oubaid stopped visiting Sabia and her family. After school, Muzzafar got into a top college. Oubaid didn’t do well and joined a local college.
Sabia joined the same college, and slowly, she and Oubaid became friends again. Sabia’s close friend Jozy Jan also became part of their group.
Tufail started revisiting Oubaid and talked about college life. He asked a lot about Sabia. It became clear that he was interested in her.
Then, terrible news came: Muzzafar had joined a militant group and taken up arms. One night, he visited Oubaid in secret. After that, he came many more times, often with other fighters. Oubaid felt proud but didn’t fully understand what Muzzafar believed in.
Soon, Oubaid was arrested by the army and taken to TALK-1, an army torture center. The officer there, Major Gurpal, asked him about Muzzafar. At first, Oubaid stayed quiet, thinking he was being brave.
But after beatings and horrible torture, including rape, he gave them everything he knew. But it wasn’t helpful, so they kept him locked up.
In jail, Oubaid shared a cell with Firdous Kaczar, a man who had also been tortured. Firdous had become a victim of sexual abuse and later took part in it. Several men, including Firdous, eventually raped Oubaid. He never told anyone.
After weeks of torture, Oubaid was released. Hamid Puj had convinced Major Gurpal to let him go. Back home, his mother barely spoke to him. People began to forget he had suffered. They thought he was exaggerating.
Sabia got engaged to Tufail. Oubaid was crushed. During his time working for the Brotherhood, Oubaid and his sadistic partner, Firdous Kaczur, began extorting money from the wealthy Zaeldar family.
They visited the Zaeldar mansion multiple times to demand large sums from Lateef Zaeldar, Oubaid’s uncle. One evening, Lateef Zaeldar finally refused to give them any more money. He was tired of their threats and told them he had spoken to Major Gurpal for protection.
This act of defiance made Oubaid and Firdous furious. They went on a rampage inside the mansion. They broke doors, windows, and furniture. They terrorized the family.
Firdous took Lateef Zaeldar at gunpoint and locked him in a room. Then, they gathered all the other members of the household and locked them in separate rooms as well. They locked up everyone, “Everyone except Jozy”.
With the rest of the family imprisoned in their rooms, Oubaid and Firdous were left alone with Jozy. The house was filled with the sounds of banging, hystérical screams, and pleas for help.
Later, when one of the family members managed to break out and free the others, they emerged to find a horrific scene. Jozy was “lying prone, her clothes torn to rags”. She had been raped.
Immediately after this event, Oubaid and Firdous fled in their car. Oubaid was in a state of shock, trying to block out the “horrors of that obscene night”.
But he saw that Firdous, who was driving, “could not get the grin off his face”. When Firdous began to whistle a vulgar tune, Oubaid could no longer control his disgust and horror.
He attacked Firdous, grabbing the steering wheel, which caused the car to swerve off the road and hit a tree with a “mighty bang”.
Oubaid broke down afterwards. He told Major Gurpal everything. This caused more raids. Meanwhile, Muzzafar kept coming back to Oubaid for help, not knowing the truth. Oubaid became a double agent, used by both Gurpal and Muzzafar.
When Afaaq, Muzzafar’s second-in-command, was arrested, Muzzafar suspected betrayal. Oubaid told him Tufail had helped the army.
The following night, Oubaid, still operating under the orders of the militants, took part in an interrogation of Tufail’s father, Lateef Zaeldar, at the bandsaw mill.
During a struggle, Oubaid accidentally caused Lateef’s death when the older man fell back onto the saw blade.
Sabia witnesses Oubaid kill Lateef Zaeldar and scream in horror. Oubaid grabs her to silence her, and his friend Tahir shouts, “Let go of her! She will die…”.
Oubaid then releases her, and she survives the encounter. The final line, “Sabia was gone. Lost to him for ever,” means that he lost her love and trust in that moment because of his actions, not that she lost her life.
The tanzeem was destroyed. The army used Afaaq’s confessions to wipe it out. Only Muzzafar remained.
Later, Gurpal offered Oubaid money to betray Muzzafar. Oubaid said he would think about it. One day, Muzzafar appeared at Oubaid’s house, asking for shelter.
Oubaid took him to the old Puj house. Before leaving, he said, “You should’ve let me join the tanzeem.” Muzzafar replied, “Maybe I should have.”
And the tale ends.
The king says the narrator’s first story is incomplete because it has “too many loose ends” and pressures him to continue. The narrator feels a strange urgency, symbolized by a ticking clock and the bizarre threat that “a virgin will die” if he stops.
This compulsion forces him to begin telling another story, revealing that his narration is a desperate attempt to make sense of his past.
The Second Tale
A girl named Sabia was born during a harsh winter in Hamid Puj’s house. Her father, Hamid Puj, came from a family of butchers, but he hated the name “Puj” because people mocked it.
He wanted to stop being a butcher and be known as Abdul Hamid, a respectable man. However, his father refused to give him money unless he stayed in the family trade. Hamid disagreed and chose to start a new life.
Hamid became a carpenter’s apprentice. One day, he visited an army camp to help build a tin roof. He saw an opportunity. The soldiers didn’t need goods from outside – they took whatever they needed.
But the camp had a canteen that sold items at low prices. Hamid started buying things from the canteen and selling them outside at a profit.
His business grew, and soon, he was delivering electronics, clothes, and other items to people beyond his village. He built trust by giving army men blue polythene bags full of nuts. But one day, the friendly canteen worker Bittu was replaced by a strict man named Trivedi-ji.
Trivedi took Hamid to Captain Gurpal, who laughed at Hamid’s bribe of apples and told him that the small trade must stop. Instead, the Captain offered him a bigger role: help win the hearts of the locals, just like he had won over the army men.
Hamid agreed. Together, they started a business smuggling deodar wood, a rare and valuable timber. Hamid opened a bandsaw mill, and Lateef Zaeldar, a wealthy man, helped him find customers. The business expanded into an extensive network involving numerous individuals.
Hamid’s goal was still the same – to become Abdul Hamid. He hoped his son Nisar would study and move away from the Puj identity. But Nisar was not interested in books; he liked knives, just like the old family. So Hamid turned to his daughter Sabia.
Sabia spent time in the mill with a boy named Oubaid, the son of a poor cousin. They had a lovely friendship. But one day, everything changed. After Oubaid’s father died, Sabia visited his home with her board game.
Other kids joined, including Tufail, Lateef Zaeldar’s son, who insulted Sabia by calling her a “puj-girl.” Oubaid laughed with them, and Sabia’s heart broke.
Later, Sabia was transferred to a new, prestigious school where Tufail and his sister, Jozy, studied. At first, Sabia avoided them, but she and Jozy slowly became best friends. She never spoke about Oubaid.
Jozy once gave her a love letter from Oubaid, written for Jozy, not Sabia. Sabia was hurt, but she tried to stay close, hoping that someday Oubaid would love her instead.
In college, Sabia and Oubaid grew close again. She hoped their past could return. But Oubaid told her he still loved Jozy. Sabia’s heart broke again.
Things worsened when the army took Oubaid. His mother, Maimoona, begged Hamid to help. Hamid tried everything, even going to the terrifying interrogation centre called TALK-1, where people often disappeared.
He met Major Gurpal again, who said he would “look into it.” A deal was struck: Hamid’s son, Nisar, would assist the army, and in return, Oubaid was released.
But when Oubaid came back, he was changed. He had joined a new violent group called the Brotherhood. Major Gurpal created them as a secret group to control the region through fear.
Their most feared member was Firdous Kaczur, a mysterious and cruel individual known for meting out brutal punishments.
Sabia kept watching the news, afraid Oubaid would be part of something horrible. Then Jozy told Sabia that Oubaid had started visiting her house, taking money, and asking her to run away with him. Jozy refused.
Obaid and Firdous went to Lateef Zaeldar’s home to take money. At his refusal, they locked all the family members except Jozy. They rape her.
Later, Sabia saw Oubaid in the mill, injured and rambling. He said he had killed Firdous Kaczur and possibly caused a car crash that led to Jozy’s rape.
In a hystérical state, Oubaid confessed the details to Sabia. He revealed that Firdous had justified the rape by saying it was the only way to break off Jozy’s engagement to another man.
In his rant, Oubaid repeated Firdous’s chilling words: “He said there was no other way to break off the engagement. We must do it to her… No other way”.
This confession confirms Oubaid’s direct complicity in the crime, showing that he stood by while the horrific act was planned and carried out.
The village exploded in protest at this event. People marched for justice. But the army opened fire on the crowd. Many were killed or injured. This made the people hate the Brotherhood even more.
To rectify the situation, Altaf Firdausi, a poet-turned-political leader, struck a deal with the army. He would take down the Brotherhood to gain power and support. Many members of the group were either absorbed into the military, jailed, or disappeared.
Oubaid was released. Sabia began revisiting him. They talked for hours, but the past haunted him. She tried to heal him. One day, she heard that someone was hiding in Zaeldar Kouet, Jozy’s house. It was Afaaq.
Then, a raid occurred, and he was caught. Sabia believed her brother Nisar had something to do with it.
Soon after, Sabia saw lights in the mill. Curious, she found Oubaid and another man torturing Lateef Zaeldar. She watched in horror as they killed him with the saw. Oubaid tried to calm her, but she was too scared. She knew then that the boy she loved was gone forever.
Later, Jozy asked Sabia if it was Oubaid. Sabia didn’t answer. Jozy then blamed herself for her father’s death. The next day, Jozy hanged herself. Her brother Tufail never returned. The family left and sold the house.
Nisar bought Zaeldar Kouet, and the Pujs moved in. Hamid finally felt he had become Abdul Hamid. Then, a marriage proposal from Tufail arrived for Sabia. Hamid accepted.
Sabia was sweeping leaves when Nisar told her about the wedding. Just then, Oubaid showed up. Nisar tried to get him to leave.
Sabia quietly walked away. She watched them from the window and saw Oubaid walk away, stepping over the leaves. And that was the end of the second tale.
The narrator has been talking to the king for a very long time. The king tells him he cannot stop telling his stories. He explains that the narrator’s mind is filled with bad memories, like “ghosts,” and he must confront all of them.
The king says that even if the truth is terrible, it is better to confront it. Feeling pressure from the king and his own thoughts, the narrator agrees to begin his third tale.
The Third Tale
Tufail was born in the Zaeldar family during a hard winter. Long ago, the Zaeldars were very rich. They owned large tracts of land. Most people in the area either rented from them or worked their land as sharecroppers. If Tufail had been born in those better times, his birth would have been celebrated with a huge feast.
But things changed. A new political leader came to power. He called himself the lion of the mountains and claimed to be the friend of the póor. He took most of the landlords’ land, including the Zaeldars’, and gave it to the tenants.
Akbar Zaeldar, Tufail’s grandfather, sold off the remaining land slowly, hoping to find a new way to make money. Each idea failed. At last, when all they had left was an apple orchard, Akbar decided to build a cinema. He called it Zaeldar Talkies. He sold family jewels and half the orchard to cover the cost.
Despite his bad luck before, the cinema became popular. Crowds came, and the family felt hopeful again. Akbar met Bharti, a government worker who enjoyed watching films at his cinema. She asked to see a particular movie.
Though it was known to be unpopular, Akbar agreed because he was charmed by Bharti. This meeting led to an affair between them. Gossip followed, partly because Akbar was married and partly because Bharti was from a different religion.
Some believed she converted for him; others thought they lived together, unmarried. However, the town soon lost interest as new scandals emerged to replace theirs.
Akbar had a daughter with Bharti. The Zaeldar family didn’t care much as long as Bharti and her child lived separately. This wasn’t new for them—Zaeldar men had kept mistresses before.
However, when political violence—tehreek—spread, the old social rules broke down. Bombs, curfews, and new religious rules filled daily life. Posters urged people to avoid “sinful” things.
Cinemas were called traps for young people and were ordered to close.
Owners who disobeyed were threatened or attacked. Most cinemas closed after threats and even a grenade attack, but Akbar kept his open, mocking the ban by calling his cinema a giant VCR.
Akbar wasn’t just being reckless. He believed he was safe because he had once shown a film about Omar Mukhtar, a Muslim hero who fought colonialists. This movie inspired local young people.
It also made them question their own leaders. After the government banned the movie, Akbar became respected among many in the town.
Tariq Ahmad Dar, a young man inspired by the film, thanked Akbar and decided to run for office. He lost the election because it was rigged, and he and other would-be politicians were jailed and tortured.
After their release, many of these men, angry and frustrated, crossed the border to receive military training and returned as rebels.
Tariq became a local rebel commander, and Akbar thought this friendship would protect him. But Tariq was soon killed by the army. His funeral turned into a protest, and security forces fired on mourners, killing many.
After Tariq’s death, his follower Ashraf Banday took power. One night, knowing Akbar was with Bharti, Ashraf broke into their house, killed them both, and burned the cinema.
Only Akbar and Bharti’s young daughter survived. Ashraf blamed Akbar and Bharti for Tariq’s death, accusing them of helping the enemy. The crowd, looking for someone to blame, accepted this story.
Soon, even Bharti’s family, the Kauls, became targets. Fearing for their lives, the eldérly Kauls left town, never to return.
The destroyed cinema was taken over by the army and turned into an interrogation center called TALK-1, named after the letters that remained on the burnt sign. Ashraf became a local rebel leader.
Akbar and Bharti’s daughter ended up with the Zaeldars, who couldn’t decide if she was family or an outsider. She began helping with chores and quietly found a place in the household, neither truly accepted nor completely rejected.
Later, during the apple harvest, she met Aziz Pohal, a shepherd who worked for the Zaeldars. An old aunt noticed that Aziz liked her and suggested that they get married on the same day as another family wedding.
This way, the family could avoid openly deciding if she was a true Zaeldar or just a charity case. Aziz sent a proposal. The girl, now called Maimoona, agreed, preferring to be a wife rather than live in uncertainty.
Aziz soon realized his wife was still not considered a real Zaeldar. Maimoona continued to visit the big house, doing chores and receiving leftovers, which annoyed Aziz, but he tolerated it because it helped them.
They had a son, Oubaid, who often played with Tufail, the heir to the Zaeldar throne. Tufail soon felt threatened by Oubaid, sensing that Oubaid felt at home with his toys and in the house.
Tufail pushed Oubaid away from his things and even from his sister Jozy, keeping him at a distance. Only after Aziz’s death did Tufail soften, and the two boys became closer.
Tufail’s father, Lateef, pressured him to get an engineering degree. Tufail failed the entrance exam, but his father used influence to get him admitted anyway.
At college, students discussed politics and freedom, but Tufail avoided these conversations, afraid to confront what his father had done for power and influence. Others thought he was arrogant.
Back home, Tufail liked Sabia, a girl who challenged him as a child, but pursuing her was not easy due to social differences. Meanwhile, violence in the region kept growing.
During one protest, Tufail hid in a filthy lavatory to escape the police. The shame and smell stuck with him for a long time, becoming a symbol of his humiliation and survival.
After graduation, Tufail’s father secured him a government job far from home, arguing that it was safer and more lucrative. As Tufail settled in, the family started receiving threats and demands for money from local militants.
Sometimes, Oubaid, now a rebel, came to collect these “donations.” Lateef explained this as a necessary evil, saying suffering won sympathy from the community and kept the family safe from suspicion. Tufail felt anger toward Oubaid, blaming him for betrayal.
Tragedy struck when Jozy, Tufail’s sister, was raped during the unrest. Tufail wanted revenge, but realized he could do nothing. The legal system offered no hope, and violence would only lead to more trouble.
In his frustration, he lashed out at Maimoona, blaming her for everything and kicking her out of the house. The Zaeldars finally answered the question of her status by rejecting her.
Later, when the family was forced to hide Afaaq, an injured rebel, in their house, Major Gurpal, a corrupt officer, threatened Tufail and demanded that he betray Afaaq.
To protect his family, Tufail drugged Afaaq and told Gurpal where to find him. The army raided the house and took Afaaq away, with Major Gurpal praising Tufail.
After this, Tufail went into hiding. Soon after, his father was killed, and Jozy killed herself. Tufail could not return home and asked Major Gurpal for help. Gurpal and Nisar Puj, Sabia’s brother, told him to sell the family property and move away.
Feeling numb, Tufail agreed, giving up the last of his family’s heritage for safety. Tufail began drinking with Gurpal and Nisar. He listened to their complaints and confessions about violence, loss, and power.
He learned that Oubaid, by accident, had told someone that a stranger was hiding in the Zaeldar home, leading to the final betrayal. Tufail realized that everyone had betrayed someone, either intentionally or unintentionally.
The tale ends with existential questions. The narrator asks: What is real? What is the truth? Is reality something we make sense of through stories, or is it just suffering without meaning? The narrative refuses easy answers, leaving us in a state of ambiguity.
The Fourth Tale
The story begins in the harsh winter landscape of Kashmir with the birth of Muzzafar Wani. His father, Iftikhar Wani, a passionate journalist, is left to raise him alone after his wife, Tabasum, dies in childbirth.
This loss, compounded by the disapproval and estrangement from his wife’s family, fuels Iftikhar’s professional drive. He channels his grief not into poetry but into his journalistic work, becoming a powerful voice for the wronged and suffering people of his community.
For Iftikhar, exposing the injustices around him is a search for his own catharsis. His life takes a fateful turn when he is approached by Fayaz Raja, a local political leader, about a suspicious “encounter” in the mountains.
The army claims to have killed four foreign militants and their two local guides, but the bodies of the local shepherds, including a man named Aziz Pohal, bear unmistakable signs of torture.
Iftikhar, driven by his journalistic integrity, begins his own investigation, declining the help of political parties to maintain his independence.
His inquiries lead him from the grieving families of the shepherds to a dark and complex underworld. He uncovers a vast, illegal timber smuggling syndicate—an “underground corporation”—that operates with the complicity of the army and involves powerful local figures, including the respected pro-independence leader, Altaf Firdausi.
As Iftikhar delves deeper, he connects the dots between the greed for timber and the fake encounter, realizing the operation is far more organized and sinister than random acts of violence.
Iftikhar’s investigation does not go unnoticed. One night, he is abducted from his home by soldiers and taken to a dimly lit room where he meets Captain Gurvinderpal. Initially accused of being a militant sympathizer, Iftikhar is subjected to a brutal, albeit “mistaken,” beating.
In the days that follow, as he recovers in the army infirmary, a strange and complex relationship develops between the journalist and the captain. Gurvinderpal, a “thinking soldier” plagued by his own conscience, confesses the horrifying truth.
The timber smuggling nexus was his idea, a strategic tool to gain influence and control. However, his superior, the Major, a greedy and ruthless officer, hijacked the plan for personal gain—medals, money, and recognition.
The Major orchestrated the fake encounter, and when the two hired shepherds refused to confess to being militant guides, he had them tortured and murdered along with four innocent boys he passed off as militants.
Released with a chilling threat to remain silent, Iftikhar is trapped between his fear for his life and his son’s safety, and the crushing weight of the truth he carries. He compromises by writing an explosive, allegorical article about the timber nexus, titled “Deodar: From Our Forests to the Drawing Room of Our Leader.”
The article creates a political firestorm, but its target is misinterpreted. Public suspicion falls squarely on Altaf Firdausi, who skillfully turns the accusation around, painting Iftikhar as a traitor and a state agent.
A week later, Iftikhar Wani is shot dead by two masked men outside his friend’s house, paying the ultimate price for his pursuit of truth.
The narrative shifts to a now-orphaned Muzzafar. Relatives raise him and finds a kindred spirit in Oubaid, the son of Aziz Pohal, one of the shepherds his father died trying to vindicate. Their shared grief forges a deep, lifelong bond.
While Muzzafar channels his pain into academic excellence, Oubaid’s grief metastasizes into a dark, all-consuming obsession.
Muzzafar’s life is transformed again at engineering college when he meets Professor Ashfaq Bhat, a charismatic and unconventional teacher. Ashfaq’s lessons go far beyond engineering; he teaches his students about history, rebellion, and the true meaning of azaadi (freedom).
For Ashfaq, azaadi is not merely a redrawing of borders but a place outside all labyrinths, a space of absolute personal freedom and dignity. He acknowledges armed struggle as a valid “act of defiance,” but cautions against letting the means (violence) become the end itself.
This philosophical education is violently interrupted when security forces attack a student protest. Ashfaq is killed by a tear-gas shell, and another student bleeds to death.
Muzzafar, who had initially hesitated to join the protest, witnesses the carnage and is haunted by his own fleeting moment of cowardice. Galvanized by his mentor’s death, he joins the militant organization (tanzeem).
He soon proves his mettle during a military operation where, trapped with his comrades, he refuses to abandon an injured fighter, Jamshed. He carries Jamshed for kilometers to safety, an act of resolute loyalty that cements his reputation.
Together, Muzzafar and Jamshed become the new leaders of the tanzeem, a rallying point for the rebellion. However, as the conflict intensifies with the rise of the brutal, state-sponsored “Brotherhood,” a critical ideological rift emerges between them.
Jamshed, a fiery and pragmatic fighter, advocates for an aggressive, all-out war. He argues for dealing with the Brotherhood head-on and targeting political workers who support the state-run elections. To him, guns are meant for fighting, and he retorts that he is not afraid of dying.
Muzzafar, deeply influenced by Ashfaq’s philosophy, opposes this extreme line of action. He fears it will alienate the people, turn the struggle into a mere bloodbath, and play into the enemy’s hands.
He argues that death must have meaning and that defiance, not just killing, should be their focus. Ultimately, Jamshed’s passionate call for direct action prevails within the tanzeem, launching a grim offensive of targeted killings and ambushes.
The tanzeem’s aggressive campaign proves costly, culminating in the tragic demise of Jamshed. His downfall is triggered when a sadistic Brotherhood commander, Shamsher Khan, murders two of Jamshed’s uncles and grotesquely displays their bodies as a public challenge.
Blinded by fury and a thirst for revenge, Jamshed walks into a trap laid by his nemesis and is killed in a firefight. His severed head is displayed as a war trophy, a devastating blow that hastens the downfall of the tanzeem.
With the local movement decimated, foreign fighters arrive, rebranding the struggle for azaadi as a religious jihad and further alienating the populace.
Remembering Ashfaq’s words, Muzzafar pioneers a new strategy of open, public defiance, making appearances at gatherings to challenge the enemy’s narrative of fear. This revitalizes the movement.
Around the same time, the Brotherhood collapses under the weight of its own brutality. Oubaid returns to his village, haunted by his past. Muzzafar, now the undisputed leader of the resurgent tanzeem, is pressured to execute his childhood friend as a traitor.
In a difficult decision, he grants Oubaid clemency. However, Oubaid cannot escape the machinations of the conflict. Major Gurpal forces him to act as an informant. This begins a perilous double game, where Oubaid provides vital intelligence to Muzzafar while also feeding information to the army.
This deadly alliance leads to the capture of Muzzafar’s second-in-command and the tragic death of an innocent man, Lateef Zaeldar, during an interrogation led by Oubaid.
The tanzeem is once again shattered by Major Gurpal’s onslaught. Muzzafar is left a fugitive, constantly on the run, with winter approaching and nowhere to hide.
He is left with one last, desperate option. In a final, tragic leap of faith, he reaches out to the one person whose loyalty has always been in question but whose life has been inextricably bound to his own since childhood: Oubaid.
Oubaid provides him with a safe house. The story concludes as Muzzafar watches his friend walk away into the grey evening.
Alone, holding only his pistol and a tattered book, he gazes at the skeletal silhouette of a chinar tree against the horizon and thinks, “It could have been beautiful to live here.”
His fate, like the future of his land, hangs in an uncertain, mournful silence. The tale ends.
In this final passage, the narrator concludes his stories to the “king” after speaking for over a thousand minutes. He feels that his ordeal is finally over.
However, the king gets up and says he must leave to see “the others.” The narrator is shocked to realize he is not the only patient.
His inner voice tells him that the king has a “palace” with a thousand rooms, each filled with a person telling their own tales of suffering. This reveals that the narrator’s personal trauma is just one part of a much larger, collective tragedy.
Darkness
The speaker is alone in a room, feeling haunted by memories and guilt. An inner voice talks to him, reminding him of his past actions and mistakes. He feels attacked by his thoughts, unable to escape them.
The Speaker and His Inner Demons
The “I” in this monologue is Oubaid. We can deduce this from the names that haunt him: Muzzafar, his betrayed friend; Jozy, his lifelong obsession; Sabia, the girl who was raped; and the mysterious Firdous Kaczur.
He is alone in a room, but his mind is a battlefield populated by different facets of his own personality.
There are at least two distinct voices in his head:
His Conscious Self
This is the voice of anguish and denial. It is exhausted, tormented, and begs to be left alone (“Leave me alone!”, “Please, no.”).
The Guilt
This is a cruel, relentless inner voice that represents his repressed guilt and self-loathing. It forces him to confront the truths he tries to bury, mockingly asking, “What are you afraid of now?” and reminding him, “We are in this together.”
The Core Confession: The Betrayal of Muzzafar
The central theme is Oubaid’s confession and justification for betraying Muzzafar, whose death has sparked the protests outside. He denies that he did it for personal gain (“I didn’t kiss his brow for silver”). Instead, he offers a twisted, self-serving rationalization:
I did it for him. To complete him. To perfect him. He didn’t die. Can’t you see how he lives on in the streets outside? It was me who died there…
In his warped logic, by betraying Muzzafar, he turned him from a mere man into a martyr, a legend. He tries to convince himself that this act gave Muzzafar immortality, while Oubaid himself suffered the true death—the death of his soul.
His inner tormentor immediately undercuts this, asking, “Is that what you tell yourself?”, revealing that even Oubaid cannot truly believe his own justification.
The Shocking Revelation: The Identity of Firdous Kaczur
The most terrifying revelation in the text is the identity of Firdous Kaczur, the notorious member of the Brotherhood with brown eyes and curly brown hair who disappeared after the rape of Lateef Zaeldar’s daughter, Sabia.
The monologue reveals that Oubaid is Firdous Kaczur.
His tormentor reminds him,
We always have been [in this together]… On those nights of grunts… At Jozy’s house… At the bandsaw mill.
This implies a hidden, darker self was always present during his most shameful moments.
When he looks in the window, he sees a reflection that is not a full face but only “a pair of brown eyes in a face framed by locks of brown hair.” This perfectly matches the description of Kaczur.
The realization hits him with full force as the voice in his head screams the name: “Firdous Kaczur.”
This means Firdous Kaczur was not another person but Oubaid’s dark alter ego—a persona he created to commit the brutal acts his conscious self could not bear. This is the source of his fractured identity and immense, unending guilt.
The Final Act: Blindness as Sight
The scene outside—stone-pelters protesting Muzzafar’s death—is a direct consequence of Oubaid’s betrayal. The violence of the state’s response, the shotgun pellets that “peck at… eyes,” becomes his own fate.
The fight in his head culminates in a struggle over whether “he” (the last remnant of his innocent self) should be forced to see the horror. His conscious self cries, “LET HIM GO,” while his guilt-ridden self insists, “He must see or be for ever damned to darkness.”
In the final, horrifying moments, Oubaid forces his eyes open, and they are pierced by the pellets from a shotgun. The conclusion is profoundly symbolic:
The darkness seeps in, and I see.
In the act of being physically blinded, he achieves a final, terrible moment of clarity. He can no longer hide, deny, or rationalize.
He is forced to “see” the complete and monstrous truth of who he is and what he has done. It is a moment of damnation and self-recognition, where the only escape from the horror of his memories is to destroy the very organs of sight.
