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CNN Live At Daybreak

Indian Army Platoon Ambushed in Kashmir Region

Aired November 19, 2001 - 06:47   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: From nearby Kashmir, there is word today of new bloodshed in the ongoing battle between India and Pakistan. An Indian army platoon was ambushed on Sunday while on patrol in the dispute region. When the smoke cleared, there were 13 new victims.

CNN's senior Asian correspondent, Mike Chinoy, takes a closer look at Kashmir and a nerve-wracking struggle between two nuclear powers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunrise in the western Himalayas, a land of towering peaks and barren valleys, as beautiful as it is forbidding. It's called Kashmir.

We were flying in an Indian Air Force helicopter. Predominantly Hindu but officially secular India, claims the Muslim majority state of Kashmir. So, too, does Pakistan, which declared itself the home for the region's Muslims by breaking from India when the subcontinent gained independence from Britain in 1947.

The two countries have fought three full-fledged wars and countless skirmishes here. Each has part of the territory. They are separated by a cease-fire line that snakes through these mountains.

It was freezing in the MI-17 chopper. Threading our way through the high passes at 18,000 feet, we needed oxygen masks to breathe. Outside, it was even colder, minus 50 Celsius. Chill nearing the current climate between two hostile neighbors with little apparent willingness to compromise.

The prospect of more conflict between two key U.S. allies, each armed with nuclear weapons, poses a potentially grave threat to U.S.- led efforts to sustain an alliance against Afghan-based terrorism in the region.

This is Drass, an Indian outpost a few kilometers from Pakistan- controlled territories. It's said to be one of the coldest inhabited places on Earth.

For much of the year, the only way in or out is by helicopter. It's an exceptionally dangerous journey. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing is the high altitude, and so it's lesser density, which means lesser oxygen. And then, the weather is very unpredictable. If it's in 10 minutes, it's sunshine and then suddenly it's cloudy, in the passes of course. Once you cross a pass and a pass ahead in the area closes down. And it's very difficult, because there's no landing spots at that altitude.

CHINOY: Two years ago, Drass was at the center of the worst clash between India and Pakistan in decades. Pakistani troops and Islamic guerrillas, seeking to end Indian rule in Kashmir, occupied Heights in nearby Kargil, overlooking the area. It took India weeks of fighting and hundreds of lives to reclaim the Heights.

Today, both sides still regularly exchange fire. Soldiers based in Drass live in underground bunkers for their own safety.

(on camera): But this is a battle as much with the elements as the enemy, air so thin you gasp for breath, howling blizzards, temperatures that can drop as low as minus 55 Degrees Centigrade, where mere survival is a triumph.

(voice-over): In a valley a few kilometers from Pakistani positions, the Indian general, commanding this region, and his aides lay wreaths for some of their fallen comrades.

GENERAL ARJUN HAY, INDIAN ARMY: About just over 90 percent casualties will be because of the elements, because of avalanches, because of high-altitude sickness, because of accidents that take place in these altitudes, and about 10 percent will be due to -- or less than 10 percent will be due to enemy casualties.

CHINOY: In the lush Kashmir Valley to the south, it's a different story. Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops are battling local and Pakistan-based militants. Each side accuses the other of terrorism and atrocities. Hundreds die every month -- a guerrilla war, more than a decade old, with no sign of ending.

Back in the mountains, where the fighting has been going on for more than half a century, Indian forces are digging in for the winter. The Pakistanis, on that snow-covered peak nearby, are undoubtedly doing the same thing.

So much of this high-altitude battlefield is uninhabited and virtually uninhabitable, you sometimes wonder, what's the point of fighting?

HAY: Well, I suppose if we look at it very philosophically, yes. But then, this is our land, and we must fight for it. It's our land. In fact, all of the land which you see behind me is our land that's been occupied by Pakistan illegally. It's our land, and we must take it back.

CHINOY: Of course, the Pakistanis believe it's their land, and they must seize it back from India. Irreconcilable positions with the ever-present danger of an explosion that could reverberate well beyond these remote and frigid peaks. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Kashmir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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