Forbidden Affair: A Tale from Arakan

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I have posted excerpts from four chapters. It should be enough for getting an idea what the novel is about.

Excerpt from Chapter Sixteen:
At the eastern edge of the camp, an unpaved drain ran below the wire fence and fell into the River Mayu. The distance from the toilet to the fence was roughly two hundred yards, and then the drain covered another hundred yards before dropping into the river. Being only a foot deep, it was almost always filled with human excretion. So the idea that someone could somehow crawl through it seemed almost impossible at first. However, during a moonless night, Karim took a deep breath, shut his mouth and nose, and got into the business of doing just that. He moved ahead like a turtle to avoid detection by the search lights. At one point, it felt like he would throw up everything from his bowel. But to a man like Karim, nothing was more dreadful than the concentration camp he was fleeing from. The camp had become a symbol of death to him and his companions. This feeling and his resolve to overcome it, provided Karim the will power to move ahead. The time to traverse the distance from the toilet to the river seemed like forever. Once he had reached the river, he kept swimming as if there was no tomorrow. A minute after he was in the river, he heard somebody splashing down into the river, but he was not in a state to look back. The current at this time of the year was quite strong. When he was at a safe distance Karim rolled in water and surrendered himself to the river current. As he came near the river mouth cautiously he began getting closer to the shore with each back stroke. Karim picked a spot with thick greenery to come out of the river. By the time he dragged himself up on the river bank the slimy filth on his body had long been washed away. As he entered the forest the night sky over his head was beginning to fade away. Karim looked at the river but couldn’t find any of his companions behind him. He had used up all his energy. Very gently he lay down with his face up on the soft green grass along the river bank. No sooner had he surrendered himself to the ground he was overtaken by a deep slumber.

http://www.europebooks.co.uk/forbidden-affair-tarek-masud/?fbclid=IwAR0DA_xbJDoSQm_CjglF34G1qLUk-8vsA9AUbzSLP73yMNgSfjm0owF3FBY

I didn't know, as an individual, how much I could do for the persecuted Rohingyas. I said "I would try my best," and this is the best thing I could think of.

Excerpt from Chapter Two:
In the afternoon, while walking alongside the Lake Inya towards the Swedagon Pagoda, Su has been thinking about her father. She has left the restaurant saying she was going to the temple. Su’s father believes in communism. He has no interest in religion, but he does not refrain Su from going to the Buddhist temple. In line with the principles of communism, Su’s father believes that religion is a kind of dope. He thinks it would’ve been better if religions that worked like drugs had been isolated from others because Buddha’s message of peace can never be harmful to mankind. Within Lee, Su views it as hypocrisy. It makes her sad. Undoubtedly, her father loves her, but he has a darker side, and she is aware of it. His father won’t hesitate to kill millions of people for the sake of this country or communism. While having lunch, Lee had said something about the Rohingyas which made Su quite uncomfortable; however, she didn’t let her parents perceive it. He commented that the Rohingyas were a threat to Myanmar and when the time would be right they were going to be thrown out of this country. This comment exposed to his daughter the monster in Lee. Su stares at the crystal-clear water of the Lake Inya. The beauty of the lake seems incompatible with her father’s ugly side. Su keeps asking herself, “If nature is so beautiful, why is human soul so ugly? Isn’t human spirit part of nature?”
At one point the paved path beside the lake takes a turn to the left next to a large banyan tree under which Su finds her loved one waiting for her. Su calls him Sun. Sun works as the assistant manager at Le Opera. Su and Sun, both once studied in the same technical institute for a diploma course on information technology. Sun has already graduated and achieved his diploma after completing his fourth year. They met each other three years ago at Yangon Technical College. This acquaintance transformed into an affair. For Sun being a Rohingya, Su has kept this hidden from her parents. The Buddhist population has recently become very suspicious of the Rohingyas. To avoid harassment, Su hides his identity. Sun looks a bit like the Chinese, which makes it easier to hide his real identity. After spending time together for almost an hour, Sun returns to Le Opera and Su heads for her home.

Excerpt from Chapter Eight:
From Sittwe, Su decided to take a different route to travel to Ruthi Daung; she took the rural route along the banks of River Lamu. She began her journey from Maagi Chaung, situated at the mouth of Lamu. For her journey to Ruthi Daung, earlier she had rented a Thaon Bein, a motorized rickshaw widely used in Myanmar. These vehicles were particularly fit for the muddy rural roads. There was no sign of rain other than white clouds floating in the autumn sky.
Su had observed smoke belowing from at least three spots before travelling through Tha Yet Chaung. Once she felt like she should go and investigate, but she had to reach Aung Syke before noon. Therefore, even though the urge in her was quite strong, she didn’t go in that direction. Finally, when she was travelling through Tha Yet Chaung, three hundred yards from the road, she saw three huge smoke clouds. This time Su couldn’t resist herself. She learned from the bystanders that those were the homes of the Rohingya villagers being burnt down. They also informed her that the soldiers of the armed forces and the paramilitary had captured a number of Rohingya terrorists, along with their cache of weapons. She saw at least ten burning homes when she reached the spot. At times, the flames went thirty feet up in the air. The burning homes were being surrounded by soldiers and paramilitary forces. Hundred yards from where she stood, ten to twelve blind folded men were made to kneel down on the ground; their hands had been tied behind their bodies. When she wanted to approach them, a soldier stopped her and asked, “Miss, what are you doing over here? This place is restricted for civilians.”
Su took her identity card out of her bag and said, “I’m a journalist, on behalf of the government I’ve been working on a project, here is my identity card.”
The soldier took the ID card from Su and gave it to an officer who had been standing a couple of yards from the apprehended men. The rank on his shoulder told her that he was a captain. Right below his shoulder, on the left arm, the logo of the thirty-third light infantry division could be seen. The yellow star with a red background and below the star was written ‘Thirty-Three’ in white and blue color. She often saw her father wearing this logo. The hard expression on the officer’s face disappeared when he saw that Su was Brigadier Lee’s daughter written on her ID. With a smile, he approached her, and extended his hand for a handshake. Then he said, “I’m captain Ye Min U. How can I help you, miss?”
Pointing her finger at the men under custody, she asked, “Who are those people? What are their crimes?”
“They are the members of the Rohingya terror outfit, ARSA. The weapons you see on the ground have been captured from them.”
Su moved ahead of the captain to talk to a well-built bearded Rohingya with short hair. For a few seconds, she looked at the man and slightly dropped two of her eyelids. Perhaps the man realized that Su wanted to say something to him. Having understood this message, he said, “We were working in the fields. We know nothing about these weapons.”
The man was stopped by a tremendous blow from the rear by a rifle butt. Consequently, from the rear of his head, he started bleeding. Then the soldiers began kicking and punching him. Su looked at the soldiers and said, “The man has lost consciousness. What’s the point of kicking and punching him?”
Having heard this from Su, Captain Min U said, “The entire state of Rakhain is burning because of these terrorists. There won’t be peace in the country if we cannot eradicate them.”
Su looked at the Captain and said, “Who confiscated these weapons? Were they your soldiers?”
“It was done by the paramilitary forces. In order to root out these pests from our land, now we will give a nice finishing touch to this drive.”
“Where are the families of these men? I don’t see them.”
“They’ve all fled. Perhaps, they’re hiding somewhere around.”
Su didn’t prolong this conversation. Slowly, she stepped away from the spot. After crossing an open field, she saw four men coming out of a bush. Su became suspicious. Cautiously, when she came near the bush, she became dizzy. A fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl lay on the ground. It looked like she was pressed down as her limbs were spread out. Her throat was slit with something sharp. However, her wind tunnel was not completely severed. The lower part of her body was totally naked, showing signs of physical abuse. At the time, she was still alive. She was trying her best to open her mouth and breathe. A few yards from the girl, a seventy or eighty-year-old woman had been staring at her; very gently Su touched her head and asked, “What’s your relationship with the girl?”
The old woman could not think of what she should say. For a while she just stared at Su, and then, almost like a whisper, she said, “She’s my granddaughter.”

Excerpt from Chapter Eleven:
Lieutenant Hu and the troops under his command were quite aware of the danger they faced. They had night vision goggles, but on the eastern side of the road, the area was covered with thick forest. As a result, the night vision goggles were mostly rendered useless. The temporary check post was erected alongside the road. Behind it, there was an open space for about fifty yards; the huge trees of the forest reigned beyond the open space. While sitting inside the check post, Hu tried to adjust the frequency of their wireless set. One of the troops had been smoking a cigarette behind the post, while the rest discussed the development of the day. Suddenly they heard something hitting the post. They ran behind the post only to find the soldier who had been smoking, sitting on the ground with his back resting against the post. Blood flowed from his forehead; it looked as if the shot had been fired from the forest. Everyone ran to the other side of the road, throwing themselves on the ground for protection. They pointed their weapons at the forest, but could not detect the presence of the enemy even by using their night vision goggles. The enemy had used silencer, so they couldn’t hear the noise of firing. Three times, Hu sent out urgent request for reinforcement. Hu was told that reinforcement would reach the spot within five minutes. Heavy exchange of gunfire followed after this. At regular interval, hundred millimeter mortar shells kept landing all around the check post, each shell exploding with a bang, so loud that it could be heard from a distance of several kilometers.
Lee, who had been directing the operation from his command post at Sittwe, speculated that something like this could occur. The temporary check post at Kudaung was a mere trap, and the prey stepped into his trap. So, Lee gave the command to implement the next stage of his plan and kept waiting for the expected outcome. In the meantime, the reinforcement was well on its way to Kudaung. These forces were spearheaded by the two APCs of the Thirty Third Light Infantry Division of Tatmadaw.
Before a final turn, the whole unit halted its advance. After the turn, the check post would be within its visual range. The soldiers disembarked from their truck which was at the rear of the column. They began moving towards Kudaung through the jungle, while rest of the reinforcement resumed its advance over the road. The APC spearheading the advance, drove past the check post, and took position on the road hundred yards from it. The second APC and the troop-carrying lorry following it, stopped when they were fifty yards from the check post. As the lorry stopped, the troops in it rushed out to take position. They lay on the ground having the lorry before them as a shield. By this time, the attention of the enemy had been diverted away from the check post; the troops on the ground and the lorry before them became their new targets. They began shooting at the fuel tank and the wheels of the lorry. The fuel tank was protected by a tem millimeter thick steel plate, so it remained in one piece, however, the wheels of the lorry were all flattened. Enemy fire receded to a great extent when the heavy machine guns of the two APCs had become active; before they were completely silenced, the hostile forces came under attack from their flanks and rear by the troops who had earlier disembarked from their lorry. One by one, when the guns of the enemy had become silent, Lee’s troops stopped firing, awaiting further instructions from their commander.
Sergeant Mong was told to advance towards the enemy position with two of his comrades. Soon afterwards, along with his comrades, Mong began crawling towards their objective. Mong noticed a barrel of a gun sticking out of the bush, six to seven yards before him, but he could not detect any movement indicating human presence on the other side of the bush. He left behind his comrades, and quietly took up position right in front of it. Then, like a big cat looking for a prey, he raised his head, parting the bush before him with his left arm, to see what was on the other side. Behind the gun which protruded from the bush, he discovered a rebel lying dead on the ground. He could hear the sound of moaning coming from the injured rebels. Very carefully, Mong stood up on his feet; he saw around a dozen Rohingya rebels lying scattered on the ground. Some of them were still alive. He raised his left arm to beckon to his comrades to come forward.
After capturing the enemy position, immediately Major Thong conveyed the news to Lee. With signs of relief, Lee came out of his command post. Already the birds were flying around in the morning sky. Lee’s official residence was only hundred yards from the two storied structure where Lee had his command post. After a long sleepless night, he was overtaken by fatigue, albeit he was not yet ready to go to bed. Most likely he was going to be adorned with an extra medal for this mission. Strangely, the thought failed to arouse any kind of enthusiasm in him, and he wasn’t sure why. He looked oblivious to everything around him as he dragged himself to his residence. He took off his cap before gently stroking his head with his fingers. From the rear, he heard his adjutant saying, “Sir, should I prepare the report for the army headquarters?”
Abruptly Lee stopped on the concrete slab. Without looking back, he raised his right arm slightly, and then dropped it. His adjutant assumed that it could wait as the exhausted general resumed heading for his residence.