L ess than an hour earlier, William Putscher had been lunching on a hot dog by the poolside, in the congenial environment of the American Embassy’s club in Islamabad, nestled inside a 32-acre campus. Now, he was being held hostage in the dormitories of the élite Quaid-e-Azam University, facing trial for unspecified crimes “against the Islamic movement.” The students who had attacked the embassy had thrown a brick at Putscher’s face, and then hit him on the back of the head with a pipe. The young accountant had been relieved of his wallet and his two rings by the mob: “ Kill the Americans, ” the crowd sang.

Twenty kilometres away in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, military ruler General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was being showered with rose petals by women strategically positioned along the

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