Brigadier Kamal Haider (retd.)
A former counter-intelligence officer from the country's most-watched agency, Kamal had been living quietly in a farmhouse just outside Islamabad—reading obscure history books, grilling meat, and muttering about "national self-delusion" to his dogs.
When General Munir invited him to "observe a briefing," Kamal showed up late, in a leather jacket, with aviators he refused to take off indoors.
The meeting lasted 42 minutes.
By the end, he stood, shook his head, and said:
> "What you're trying to do is noble. Also suicidal."
Rayan smiled. "You think it'll fail?"
"I think the system eats reformers for breakfast. But I've always liked watching idealists lose. Count me in."
---
Day 5: Kamal's Contribution
Kamal brought teeth.
He quietly arranged for surveillance scrubbing around the SRS operation—phones, emails, even seemingly random leaks that could trigger bureaucratic paranoia.
He also flagged four mid-level bureaucrats who had started reporting unusual SRS activity to their political patrons. One of them was reassigned to a rural health project in Tharparkar "for nation-building exposure."
Zara asked him point blank over chai one day, "Why are you helping?"
Kamal replied, eyes hard, "Because the country I risked my life for doesn't exist anymore. And this—your ragtag startup revolution—is the first honest lie I've seen in 20 years."
---
Meanwhile, Tajdeed moved quietly.
Rahim Yar Khan pilot launched: digitized land records, grievance redressal portal.
SRS Control Room set up: laptops, interns, a constantly failing kettle.
Zara's Listening Tour picked up steam: Hyderabad, Multan, Swat—gathering youth stories like intelligence reports.
Ali Mahmud finished Version 1 of the National Governance Dashboard. It was clunky but live. Officers began uploading weekly performance stats.
Most had no idea who was behind it.
---
Kamal's Friction
Not everyone welcomed the "nerdy invasion."
A senior intelligence officer known only as Col. Tanoli sent Kamal a sharp message:
> "You're playing with fire. The state doesn't like hobbyists."
Kamal replied with one line:
> "The state should've learned Python."
---
Final Week of April:
SRS submitted a low-profile report to the PM Office. It included:
Budget leak tracking
Ghost employee heat maps
Efficiency indexes of 12 federal departments
Early wins, without PR
No headlines. Just system nudges.
And then… something unexpected happened.
An old bureaucrat—known for naps and safe files—forwarded the dashboard to his juniors with a single line:
> "If they can clean this mess, let them try."