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CNN Live At Daybreak

Dispute over Kashmir More Than 50 Years Old

Aired June 03, 2002 - 05:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And while world leaders fret about the possibility of a nuclear war of Kashmir, most people don't know a lot about the divided region or the Muslim people caught in the middle of a half century of fighting.

Mike Chinoy, our Senior Asia Correspondent, fills in some of the gaps for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): India and Pakistan have been fighting over Kashmir for more than 50 years. Its lush valleys and rugged mountains the scene of conflict dating back to the birth of both nations in 1947. Britain gave up its empire and the subcontinent was partitioned into predominantly Hindu, but officially secular India, and overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan.

Each side laid claims of the breathtakingly beautiful Himalayan region of Kashmir. After three full-scale wars and almost non-stop skirmishes, the two countries are again on the brink of all-out confrontation. A million troops facing off along the line dividing the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir and that held by India, amid fears that this time the conflict could go nuclear.

(on camera): What makes this problem so intractable is that for both India and Pakistan Kashmir is more than just a territorial dispute. It is at the heart of each country's national identity.

(voice-over): Largely Muslim Kashmir was widely expected to join Pakistan in 1947, but its Hindu maharaja at the time opted instead to stay with India, triggering the first of three wars, leaving the territories split in two. For Pakistan, which defined itself as the homeland for south Asia's Muslims, it was and remains a devastating blow to its sense of nationhood.

BERNARD IMRASLY, KASHMIR SPECIALIST: It has a very insecure sense of self; and, therefore, it needs to kind of cling to this identity, to this Islamic identity. And Kashmir is a very essential part for this.

CHINOY: That helps explain why success of Pakistani governments have supported the cause of Islamic militants fighting to end Indian rule in Kashmir to the extent, in the view of many diplomats and observers, of offering military and logistical help. But for India, Kashmir has become a symbol of its aspiration to be a multi-religious, multicultural society.

KARAN SAWHNEY, POLITICAL ANALYST: India believes that a secular state is impossible without Kashmiri-Muslim citizens of India.

CHINOY: Caught in the middle the people of Kashmir themselves. Most have little desire to be ruled from New Delhi and resent the Indian army troops deployed to combat the militants. But there's also little support for the Pakistani-trained fundamentalists who have come to dominate the insurgency. And there's a profound weariness after years of violence.

With leaders in both capitals locked into hard-lined positions, though, and passions on both sides running high, the bloodshed that has scarred Kashmir and threatened the stability of south Asia for decades shows no sign of ending.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, New Delhi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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