• So, how do you explain what is happening in Pakistan now. This whole Lal Masjid business, fights Musharraf is having with fundamentalists, the very people Pakistan Army and ISI created. Very much like Bhindranwale and the State of India.

There are many similarities on why he did not take action against them before they made such a fortress out of that mosque. Exactly the same reason why Indira Gandhi did not take any action against Bhindranwale before he fortified the Golden Temple. And also of course there is Musharraf’s fear of reaction among the supporters of these people outside the Lal Masjid, and Indira Gandhi’s fear of the Sikhs’ reaction in the countryside in Punjab.

• Mark, go back to your reporting years. Tell us some of your most interesting moments. Some of the most difficult moments — India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, wherever.

One of the most difficult moments I had was a strange personal experience. You know we all had to go dressed up as Mujahideen, go in as a Mujahideen into Afghanistan. Once when I did this, first thing we had to do was climb a very steep mountain. I got up to three quarters of this mountain when I started to feel very, very sick and giddy and I realised that I was getting altitude sickness. And I looked below and there were all the plains of Pakistan and I thought: God I would be an absolute idiot if I had to go back and say I couldn’t even get over the first mountain. Then I heard a train of mules coming up, the bells were ringing and fortunately my Urdu was recognizable by the Pashtun speakers and I said to one of those people to put me on one of the mules for heaven’s sake. Sure enough they did. So I rode in triumph to Afghanistan on the back of mule.

... contd.