Delhi – Prime Minister's Office, South Block – March 10th, 1949
With the recent establishment of RAW, Arjun chose not to wait and proceeded immediately to the next phase.
He had called for Krishna Menon, his Foreign Minister, and Sanjeevi Pillai, the Director of RAW. Both men sat across from his desk. The atmosphere felt tense but controlled. They were about to discuss India's expansion of influence beyond its borders.
"Gentlemen," Arjun began. His voice was calm but direct. "Our diplomatic and intelligence work must now focus on our immediate neighbors. The vision of a greater Indian sphere extends beyond our current borders.
I was hesitant to start with this earlier since IB was already occupied with domestic intelligence, but now that RAW is operational, we can proceed ahead without any issue."
He turned to look at Menon first. "Krishna ji, you will go on an extensive diplomatic tour. Your destinations are Afghanistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Ceylon, and Burma. Your mission is to formally introduce them to the new Republic of Bharat.
You will emphasize our commitment to regional stability. You will highlight our rapid economic development. You will present India as a reliable, non aligned partner."
Menon nodded. He was already thinking about how to approach each country. "This will be challenging, Prime Minister. They will be suspicious of our intentions after what happened with Pakistan last year.
Especially Afghanistan. We are now their direct neighbor instead of Pakistan. They also had the Durand Line dispute that with Pakistan earlier. Now, though they may not raise the issue openly to us, but they will be worried behind the scenes."
"Exactly, that and their concerns regarding the severed trade route." Arjun agreed. "And you will address those concerns directly. You will speak about our commitment to their sovereignty. But at the same time subtly highlight the growing instability in Asia.
Like tribal conflicts in Afghanistan, communist civil war in China and Ethnic insurgencies that has recently started in Burma. You will plant seeds of doubt. You will make them understand that in a chaotic world, only India can truly guarantee their security and prosperity."
He paused and leaned forward. "Offer them economic cooperation and trade deals. Including educational exchanges and even the promise of technical assistance in future. Frame everything as Indian subcontinent's solidarity.
The goal? Simple, to make them economically dependent on us."
Then Arjun turned to Pillai. His voice dropped slightly. "Mr. Pillai, like discussed earlier, RAW's work in these nations will support Krishna ji's diplomatic efforts. Your agents should begin operations as soon as his trip ends."
Pillai nodded confidently. "Yes, Prime Minister. My agents are prepared for it. Also, we have managed to obtain useful names from various countries on our target list. These contacts should help us get our operations started effectively."
This caught Arjun's interest. "Where did you get these names?"
"From IB records from the early to mid 1940s, Prime Minister," Pillai explained. "The information might not be completely current, but the possibility of identifying useful contacts is quite high. We decided this would be our starting point."
Arjun approved. "Excellent. Use every available lead. Krishna ji, your diplomatic work will create the initial openings. Mr. Pillai's teams will then work in the shadows."
Menon nodded with understanding. He would play the role of the statesman and harbinger of cooperation.
"Consider it done, Prime Minister," Menon said with confidence.
Arjun leaned back in his chair. He glanced at the maps on his wall. They showed the vast landmass of India and its carefully planned sphere of influence. The diplomatic and intelligence machinery will be now fully engaged.
The meeting continued for another hour. They discussed specific targets in each country. They identified key political figures who might be influenced. And overall coordination between diplomatic visits and intelligence operations.
By the time the two men left his office, Arjun felt confident that this phase of his grand design was properly launched.
The vision of Akhand Bharat has taken yet another crucial step towards reality.
Arjun had barely settled back into his chair when there was a sharp knock at the door. Without waiting for permission, Intelligence Bureau Director Sharma entered. His face was grim and tense, and carried a thin file in his hands.
"Prime Minister," Sharma said urgently. "I apologize for the interruption, but this requires your immediate attention."
He placed the file on Arjun's desk. The cover was marked with red stamps indicating highest classification. Arjun could see the worry in Sharma's eyes.
"What is it?" Arjun asked, already reaching for the file.
Sharma's voice was tight with concern. "Sir, we have a situation in Balochistan."
Arjun opened the file and began to read. His expression slowly changed as he absorbed the contents.
TOP SECRET – WESTERN COMMAND HQ
Date: March 10, 1949
From: General Rajendrasinhji
Levies' patrol got hit near Turbat this morning. Fourteen levies and two armed suspected tribals dead, feels like a coordinated attack. They knew exactly where patrol would be.
Weapons we found from dead tribals: British Lee-Enfields, Italian Carcanos, Soviet Mosin-Nagants. Foreign ammunition. This wasn't random bandits.
Assessment: Professional job. Someone trained these tribals.
Arjun read it twice. His eyes widened slightly. Fourteen dead border patrol under Khan of Kalat. In Balochistan. In a territory that was supposed to be safe after Pakistan's fall.
He recognized this pattern. In his original timeline, this kind of tribal insurgency was used by Pakistan to pressure Balochistan to join it. And now, even when he'd eliminated that possibility entirely, history was still trying to correct itself somehow. Fighting back against his changes.
"The weapons," Arjun said. "Where did they even come from?"
Sharma consulted his notes. "Western Command suspects Afghanistan or Iran. Likely cross-border smuggling. But the tribals retreated deeper into Balochistan, not toward any border."
Arjun shook his head. "Afghanistan? Unlikely. They've got their own problems to deal with. Last thing they want is to provoke us." He stood up and began pacing.
"Iran makes more sense. Especially when it happened so close to Iran border. But they wouldn't act alone."
"Iran? Why would they target us? Also, you think someone's helping them, Prime Minister?", Sharma asked with a slight frown.
Arjun's mind was racing now. Iran was essentially America and Britain's client state right now. And the border was porous, which made it easy for operatives to slip weapons across. So, it's most probably either CIA or MI6, or both.
But there were so many questions. Why? Why now? Where they preparing for this ever since the conflict ended? And he had knew enough where this was headed.
"Not Iranian forces, Sharma-ji, but rather various foreign intelligence, mainly western ones, that have decent presence in Iran. And if I were to guess, then it would be CIA or MI6."
To say Sharma was surprised would be an understatement. He knew of Western Intelligence presence in Iran, every top figures in IB do. But why would they target India out of nowhere?
"There's more to this than just random attack," Arjun said. "Whoever is behind this, be it CIA or MI6, they likely want to create a passage. The one to connect the Pakistani remnants in Balochistan with Iran. Give them somewhere to retreat and regroup."
Sharma nodded slowly. "A permanent resistance network."
"Exactly. They can slip back and forth across the Iranian border, then disappear into the hills. We'll never root them all out." Arjun stopped pacing.
"This accomplishes two things for them. First, keeps the Pakistani cause alive. Second, prevents us from actually controlling Balochistan."
He thought about those aid convoys from months back. Aid convoys were tightly monitored by ground forces, so weapon smuggling through them was impossible. That being said, it would have served the perfect cover for western intelligence to sneak into Pakistan.
And then co-ordinate all this with their agents in Iran. As for Islamic states? While they do have the money, they don't have the such sophisticated intelligence network to execute this.
"So, what do we do?" Sharma asked.
Arjun's voice turned cold. "This isn't some tribal incident. It seems they wants to remind us that winning the war doesn't mean we're safe and secure."
He tapped the report. "Get a message to the Khan of Kalat through our Western command. Tell him I want to meet him. Soon. We'll select the location for security reasons. Probably some base in Balochistan."
Sharma's eyes widened. "You want to meet with the Khan directly? That's escalating things considerably."
"That's the point." Arjun walked back to the map on his wall. "This protectorate arrangement was useful initially. But now it's a vulnerability. Other countries are exploiting it against us."
He traced Balochistan's borders with his finger. "Time to end the ambiguity, once and for all. Full integration. It's time Balochistan becomes a proper Indian state. No more of this protectorate arrangement."
Yes, he has seen what happens if someone doesn't crush such situations before it matures.
"You're talking about annexation, sir?" Sharma said quietly.
"I'm talking about reality, Sharma-ji. The Khan gets a choice. Join Akhand Bharat properly and we guarantee his safety and position. Or continue allowing his territory to be used against us." Arjun's voice hardened. "And we won't tolerate that."
Sharma was taking notes frantically now. "What about the press? This kind of incident could leak."
"Nothing gets out. Tell Rajaji we keep this completely classified. No headlines about attacks. Just some routine official report about local bandits being dealt with by Kalat forces." Arjun's tone brooked no argument.
"We control the narrative completely. Let the real perpetrators think we're being reactive and defensive."
"While we're actually planning...?"
"While we're actually taking the entire board." Arjun smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant expression. "Leave them to think they caught us off guard."
Sharma saluted and headed for the door. He understood the strategy now. India wasn't being attacked directly, but someone was operating in the gray areas. Arjun's response was to eliminate the gray areas completely.
After Sharma left, Arjun stared at the map. His new India suddenly felt less secure. He'd altered history, but it was still resisting him. Time to change it even more dramatically.
The Khan would learn that there was no middle ground anymore. You were either with India completely, or you were a problem that needed resolving.
"Fourteen casualties," he said quietly. Strategic losses. The price of allowing them the first move.
He felt a surge of something primal. Not just anger. Something deeper. A cold, calculating fury that made his vision sharper, his thoughts clearer. This was personal now. Not because of the fallen soldiers, but because of what it represented.
The same powers that had kept India subjugated for seventy years in his original timeline thought they could do it again. They thought they could use the same tired playbook of proxy warfare and border instability to stop his vision of Akhand Bharat.
They had no idea who they were dealing with. A man who'd observed their games for decades, who knew every move before they made it.
Time to show them what happened when someone played their game better than they did. The shadow on the frontier would be crushed once and for all. And anyone who helped cast that shadow would regret it.