Chapter 6: 9/11
Lahore, Pakistan
I hung up the phone after talking to our Middle School Principal. The cup of orange juice sat on the coffee table. I called Dana over and explained the purpose of the call.
At the time, I could not relate the attack on the World Trade Center to Pakistan. To me, there was no connection. As time went on, however, it was clear that fingers were being pointed at Bin Laden, who was now our Afghani neighbour.
The worst case scenario was evacuation. The last time the school expat staff were evacuated, they spent a month in Paris - which in itself was not so bad. Neither Dana or I wanted to leave the school, our students, or our new home.
We quickly got caught up on all of the details. I was glued to the TV the rest of the evening (9/11 happened during the evening in Pakistan).
It soon became clear from reports that terrorists had been involved. That could bring the U. S. to the Pakistan/Afghanistan region in some form. The backlash from an American military intervention created fear among some of the expat staff at LAS. Dana was the least worried of us all.
I was not so much worried for my own safety but I knew that there was little chance for me to protect my new bride. As good as I was at taking out cockroaches, I’m not a tough guy by any stretch of the imagination. The possibility of Dana being hurt scared me more than anything.
The next day in school, I told the students to close their books and forget the history lesson because we were living through a major event right now. I told them that they were not to hold anything back. I wanted full disclosure. I wanted them to feel free to say anything that they wanted. Being Canadian helped. They may have not opened up as much if I was an American.
Each and every student said that they felt sorry for the people who were killed and for their families. The fact that innocent people were killed did not sit right with them at all. Every single student agreed on this point.
However, some felt that America had deserved something of this magnitude to happen to them. U. S. conflicts never happened on their own soil.
Other students mentioned a deal where the Pakistani government had paid the Americans for fighter jets but never got delivery of the planes.
A student mentioned how hypocritical the Americans were with regard to their nuclear program. The U. S. would often say that India and Pakistan should not have nuclear weapons, even though they were a nuclear powerhouse. Why was that right?
A few students mentioned that American involvement in Vietnam, Korea, and Panama and many other countries were other reasons why the American government deserved a little payback.
It was interesting because Canada is the mouse sleeping next to the U. S. elephant. We are so inundated with the North American viewpoint, it was fascinating to hear the Asian point of view. The experience made me re-examine and question everything that our media spews out for our consumption.
Between Kuwait and Pakistan, I learned that the U. S. media is largely full of baloney and biased.
We touched on the topic of what would happen if the Americans wanted to go into the remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan to hunt down the terrorists. The students started to chuckle and shake their heads. Several sat back in their desks and confidently stretched out their legs.
“Let them try,” said one.
“That would be suicide,” said another.
“You do not understand, Mr. Derwin. The tribal leaders are in charge there. Everyone is armed and they know the terrain. It is all mountains. An army wouldn’t stand a chance there.”
Everyone nodded their head in agreement. Most of them, although born in Lahore, had family and family homes in those regions. They knew the area themselves and knew how easy it would be to hide when they needed to and to attack without being seen when they wanted to. It would be hit and run warfare. And a war that they would win.
The students were right. They were neither stupid nor naive. They knew their country and their countrymen.
Afterward, in the papers and other news reports, it came out that the Americans did ask for permission to go into those territories and were told “no” by the government.
September 12
The best word to describe how we felt was “unease.” Were we safe? Where would we be in a month? Where would we be in a year?
Obviously, many more had it much tougher than us. We were alive. And had family and friends. And were wealthy. And educated. With modern conveniences in our home. We faced the typical First World problems. But this situation was new to us.
The local papers were concerned over the international pressure imposed on Pakistan to help NATO find the terrorists.
The best-case scenario was that the conflict would last no more than a couple of weeks. We would still get paid and have jobs. If we had to be evacuated, the school would evacuate us to Bangkok. That was a cheaper option and we would fly directly to Thailand and avoid the Middle East, our former home.
Colin Powell made it sound like it would be a long conflict, however. That meant we would have a longer evacuation. If that were the case, we planned to fly back to Canada. Manuel offered to guard our belongings if we did fly home. We had no doubt that Manuel would be a loyal guard.
Since our first day in Lahore, people would stare at us. If we stopped at a red light, people would look. If you stared back, they would just keep staring. We were different and they were checking us out. Our van felt like a mobile zoo cage and we were the animals inside.
Before they were staring out of curiosity. Now, I was not so sure. Why were they looking at us? I realized that I was just being paranoid. Their motives would not have been different now that 9/11 had occurred. If anything, the locals had more reason to be paranoid because of the rumours of the of U. S. Military being in the city.
Some expat staff felt that our presence at school endangered the students. We were worried about the student and local staff’s safety. The locals kept telling us, however, that we were safe in Lahore. That was the motto: “you are safe in Lahore.”
The school did have evacuation insurance but several conditions needed to be met before the insurance policy could take effect. It all depended upon the US Embassy. As of the 12th, the Embassy staff were still sending their kids to the International School of Islamabad. When they stopped sending their kids to school, we wanted out for something was going to hit the fan.
September 14
The support and concern from home was overwhelming. Our inbox was always full of emails and that was important to us.
Tension among the staff was rising. Everyone just wanted out. We knew that Pakistan was going to be in the middle of things. It was a matter of timing for the school with regards to the evacuation insurance.
Police were stationed at the school to provide extra security.
After school, we had a two hour meeting with representatives from the American Embassy and a Pakistani security official. We were advised to vary our routes to and from work, check for unusual packages, check the car for bombs…nothing new for us. We heard the same speech in Kuwait.
If there was an emergency evacuation and an American plane was available, any American could hop on. We, as Canadians, would not be allowed to fly out with them even if there were available seats.
At that point, the embassy knew nothing.
A colleague had gone through an evacuation in Guatemala City. He said that embassies err on the side of caution. The embassy staff are paid no matter what happens so why stay in a place that is dangerous. The officials are paid to be paranoid so they will evacuate sooner rather than late. That made us feel better.
However, another American teacher disagreed. He felt that we were being left there on purpose in the hope that one of us would get killed. That way, the American government had an excuse to move in. In his mind, we were bait.
The Middle School Principal took our passports to Islamabad to get Indian visas for us. That way we could take a bus to India if we could not fly out of Lahore.
Someone Stole Our Van
Rumours persisted that either American intelligence officers or special ops members were arriving overnight at the Lahore airport. What they were doing there was unknown but it got people talking.
Dana and I kept working and life continued on as normal. The Pakistani military put two snipers on our roof since we were an “American” school.
I asked a school security guard where they were stationed. He looked up at the roof and smiled. He shrugged his shoulders and said “I do not know where but they are up there.” The snipers probably slept all day.
The school took the precaution of changing the license plates on our school-owned van. The plates had marked the vehicle as being an embassy vehicle and the school felt that that should be avoided. It could make us a target.
The school also recommended that we get cell phones, which we had not had before. So, the next Saturday, Dana and I took a trip to the Hafeez Centre to get two cell phones. After going through the typical registration process, we returned to where we parked our van.
The van was missing. We were only inside for twenty minutes. We looked everywhere in the hopes that we were in the wrong spot.
In the fifty-odd years that the school had been opened, they never had a vehicle stolen.
We took a rickshaw home and immediately phoned the man in charge of vehicles at school. We explained what had happened.
He went to the local police stations in the area to make sure that it was not towed for illegal parking. It was no where to found.
They said that the embassy plates protected the vehicles up to that point but two white people parking a van with regular license plates made it an easy target. It was eerie to imagine that someone was watching us as we went in to the mall.
For insurance purposes, I had to go with a school representative to the local police station. At that time of the evening, the police station happened to be a large, dark green tent. It sat at a very busy, five lane round-a-bout.
There were over fifty police officers there, all clad in their olive coloured uniforms and armed with a rifle and a jet black moustache. Walking amongst them was intimidating even though no one gave a rat’s ass about me. You would think that some tall, white guy walking amongst all of the officers would make them curious. It did not.
We asked one officer who we should talk to. He pointed to the tent where the higher ranking officers were sitting. You could tell that they were higher ranking because their bellies were larger and they had different uniforms with lots of coloured, plastic bits on their shoulders. They also acted more important. Commands to their underlings sent them obediently scurrying away.
The school rep did all of the talking. I just had to stand there and say ‘yes’ when the biggest bellied of them all asked me if the van had been stolen. As soon as I said “yes’, he sauntered over to a table with a large book on it. He scribbled all of the details down in a large ledger.
The other fifty police officers stood around in small groups. They watched the traffic and visited, rifles slung over their shoulders. Our business with the police was done.
Darkness was falling and the hundred or so cars illuminated the round-a-bout with their headlights. I was dropped off at home, glad that the day was over.
Meanwhile, the school added other precautions. Their own security guards checked vehicles much more closely. They exuded more of a presence.
No local staff member expected anything to happen at all. We expats just were not as confident as they were in our safety.
September 17
Morning
As time went on, we learned to stop checking the television for updates. The weekend was up and down emotionally. We were packed and ready to go with Indian visas in our passports. We did not want to leave because we did feel loyal to the school, students, and our Superintendent.
We had a morning meeting. The word from the States was that it would be another two to three weeks before anything happened.
September 17
Afternoon - Around snack time
News came through that evacuation may occur as soon as September 18th. We were not sure what prompted this welcomed news but we hoped it would happen.
September 17
Evening
The expat staff decided that, despite no official word on evacuation, we were all going to leave. The school board stepped up and offered return flights to Bangkok for us all. We would be without pay but everyone was fine with that.
We were also expected to provide all lesson plans and tests for our substitute teachers. We were to email them everything that they needed to keep our classes going. No staff member had an issue with that.
Our plan was to stay only three weeks in Thailand. If the conflict lasted longer, we would head home to Canada. If it was less than three weeks, like we hoped it would be, we would be a short flight away from our new home. The evacuation was considered to be a voluntary one, however.
I got an email that day from a former North American student.
“Hey Mr. Kitch, have you heard of the war?”
We could only chuckle at the question.
“Hey, I hope you’re doing well. Yeah, we’ve heard bits and pieces of the war,” was my reply.
September 18
Five staff had already left. One left with her two daughters while her husband stayed behind. Another couple left outright while another couple left because they were expecting a child and would not be able to fly in another week. Everyone understood their reasoning. There was no judgement.
Pesherwar and Karachi were forced to evacuate. Lahore and Islamabad were still in the voluntary phase.
Soldiers were now stationed in the streets. That was a sign that things were tightening up. Last night’s call to prayer lasted thirty minutes, which was very different.
Waiting sucked.
September 19
I had a radio interview with CBC Manitoba. I was nervous. I do not remember what I said. I had nothing too exciting to say since we had been in wait mode for so long.
Lahore is starting to see some demonstrations in the streets. School is shut down on Friday because of the fear of mob mentality. There were now more covered women in Lahore. That was because the women were moving east from the volatile Afghani border. Lahore was seen as safe and peaceful by Pakistanis.
It was good of the school to offer to fly us to Bangkok. If we received the forced evacuation notice within thirty days, the insurance would still be in effect. Dana had gone through her crisis on the weekend. I was going through mine now.
The Canadian High Commission in Islamabad would not tell us anything nor were their employees reassuring.
September 20
I emailed friends and family:
“We would like to return if it is safe. We were starting to make a home (our first home) together. We were looking forward to getting to know Lahore and Pakistan better as well. Despite wanting to return, we both have a sense of finality to our Pakistan adventure. We feel that this may be a long term affair and that, in five months or so, we’ll be jobless and homeless. One thing that sealed our decision here is that there was an underground newspaper in Lahore offering $6,000 American dollars to anyone who would bring in an American. The situation was just getting a little too tense.
Another factor in our decision was that the American consulate here is closed down and they’ve moved their employees to Islamabad. If they don’t feel safe here, we shouldn’t either. Yet, both the Canadian and American governments have refused to send the order to evacuate. This has been extremely frustrating for us. I’m very disillusioned with our government. We’re in danger, why does our government not do something about that. What do they have to gain by our being here?”
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