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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview with Khalid Hasan, Jyotirmoy Datta, Journalists

Aired June 02, 2002 - 08:14   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: As events unfold in South Asia, reporters are hard at work. Trying to get the story out quickly and accurately can sometimes be a difficult job, given the increasingly dangerous situation as tensions mount between India and Pakistan. We are joined by two veteran journalists who are covering the crisis.

Jyotirmoy Datta is the with "News India Times," and Khalid Hasan is with the "Daily Times," an English language paper in Lahore, Pakistan. They will be taking your calls and reading your e-mails. Once again, we want to plug the phone number. That is 404-221-1855.

Gentlemen, good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

PHILLIPS: Maybe we can get a little personal side to both of your jobs, first. Khalid, why don't you tell us, recently, most recently, what has affected you the most about covering this story?

KHALID HASAN, JOURNALIST, "DAILY TIMES": Well, what has affected me most is the fear and the apprehension that India and Pakistan, a war could break out, and it could result in human suffering on a scale, which one cannot even begin to imagine.

PHILLIPS: Jyotirmoy?

JYOTIRMOY DATTA, DEPUTY EDITOR, DESI TALK: My main concern has been that there has been a great sort of a break with September 11. Before September 11, we thought that the balance of nuclear terror would really make it unthinkable that India and Pakistan would start a nuclear war, but after September 11, we are brought up with face-to- face with the idea that there are people in the world who can take possession of ships of state or airliners and take with them many people to a death which they embrace as the straight road to paradise.

Previously, we had a rational world. Today, we have a world where a certain number of people are quite willing to die and let millions of others die. That is -- that is the model problem. That is the great water divide, fork divide, which has happened.

PHILLIPS: And as you can imagine, that is triggering many e- mails. We've been getting hundred of them, actually. And we have a number of phone calls coming through. We are going to go ahead and get to the phones. Don (ph) from Florida, what is your question?

CALLER: I've never seen any polling or statistics in Indian- controlled Kashmir, how interested the people themselves on the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir, how interested they would be with hooking up with the Pakistanis, since India is, you know, a transparent society and a democracy, freedom of the press, etc., and Pakistan is none of those things, and I was just wondering how interested the people in Indian-controlled Kashmir themselves would be in going with Pakistan?

PHILLIPS: Khalid, why don't you take that question? You're Kashmiri.

HASAN: Well -- yes, I am. Well, I would say that the fact that you call Kashmir Indian-controlled Kashmir, it isn't in control, and the future of Kashmir remains to be undecided. The Kashmiris are the only unfortunate people in the subcontinent who have never had an opportunity to be asked to what exactly they want to be done to themselves and their future. And they have never been given the right of self-determination, and I think the time has come, and the Kashmiris should really take center stage, and since it is their fate which is at stake, it is they who should be asked what exactly, what sort of relationship do they want with India and Pakistan.

PHILLIPS: On the subject of Kashmir, why don't we get to this e- mail. This is number two e-mail from Brian in Austin, Texas. Jyotirmoy, maybe you can answer this.

"Why do India and Pakistan feel that Kashmir is so important? I understand that the majority of the population of Kashmir is Muslim, and that most of the population of Pakistan is also Muslim, but are there valuable minerals in Kashmir?"

DATTA: The real question is not the natural wealth of Kashmir, although that is immense. The very beauty of Kashmir has drawn people from the subcontinent, including the emperors Akbar and Jahangir to Kashmir, and it has been a place of importance in Hindu mythology, in Mughal history, but the real issue with Indians is that India is a secular state. It can have both a Muslim majority or a Hindu majority, or a Sikh majority province. The whole basis of Indian nationality is that it is multi-racial and it is a pluralistic society. Now, to -- sort of hack away Kashmir from India, from the body politic of secular India would be like, say, taking away Texas from the United States just because, at some point of time, it's political situation was otherwise. The whole question of whether India can be a pluralistic, multi-religious, multi-linguistic society, depends upon the fact that we do not base the allegiance of any state on the commonality of religion.

PHILLIPS: Khalid, I am going to take this e-mail to you.

This comes from James -- "The real impetus for the new turmoil in the region is the two states seeking international attention to the final settlement of their border which they have sought for 50 years. Can we get them to accept the line of control in Kashmir as the final border? What role will the Chinese border have on this issue?"

HASAN: Well, I mean, the line of control is a very arbitrary line which Kashmiris on both sides of line of control, which used to be called the cease fire line, drawn by the UN in 1949. They have never accepted it. I mean, the fact is that the future of Kashmir remains undetermined, and the fact is that what my friend said is really not correct. I mean, does India unity have to be -- do the Kashmiris have to be a hostage to the so-called Indian unity? After all, the Kashmiris -- there are -- if Kashmiris are an integral part of India, and Kashmir is an integral part of India, then why is there a half a million Indian army personnel in Kashmir to keep the Kashmiris in line?

PHILLIPS: Khalid Hasan, the "Daily News" -- the "Daily Times," rather, and Jyotirmoy Datta, with the "News India Times." Boy, I wish we could keep going. We continue to get e-mails even as we speak, but I'm sure we will all be talking again. Gentlemen, thanks for being with us this morning. about about this some more.

DATTA: Thank you.

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