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YI: So, you have been on both sides of the fence. Which side do you favor most?

Mushahid Hussain: I think the side when you're a journalist, because you've got more freedom and you can afford to be more irresponsible. A good journalist has to have a curious mind, has to take risks and initiatives. But in government you have to be mores restrained and you have to follow what I call the officially certified truth. I think it's more fun on the other side.

YI: So, you felt more constrained?

Mushahid Hussain: Yes, I felt more constrained, specifically because of officialdom, because of policies.

YI: But how do you balance that journalistic sense and your commitment to a political party?

Mushahid Hussain: I think it's important that one criteria should be kept. At the professional level one should try to tell the truth and even if the truth is unsavory, I think that is the key. Secondly, I think it's important that one should try not to use any optics - whether it's government or journalism. So personal benefits, either financial or any other kind. At the end of the day, despite all the problems, you have a good night sleep with a clear conscience. I think that's very important.

YI: But isn't politics a more compromising field than journalism?

Mushahid Hussain: Yes, it's compromising at the national level, at the political level. But you don't have to necessarily make compromises. If you don't have a personal agenda, then you tackle the compromises at the national level, at the foreign policy level, even at the party level. These are compromises which are inter-personal. So, that is fine. You can do it in the natural interest or in the political interest but at least, for your personal benefit, for your personal vested interest or personal agenda you don't get involved.

YI: You still write columns even though you're involved in politics. We hear reports of journalists being harassed, being endangered. How free is the media in Pakistan?

Mushahid Hussain: I would say that by the standards of the Muslim world, we have the freest press of any Muslim country. Yes, we have problems. Yes, there are the occasional cases of harassment also, sometimes by the government, other times by political parties, sometimes by powerful individuals. But on the whole, I think the atmosphere is extremely free. There are no holy cows. Every day, the press including the electronic media tells Musharaf and the army to go to hell. And nothing happens. There are no midnight knocks. People in Pakistan are very frank, very open. They discuss things very candidly and that is a big plus here. But there's the fallout on the war on terror, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia. So there are instances when journalists can be threatened for writing stories.

YI: You yourself spent 410 days in jail. Was it because of some kind of security violation or for criticizing the government?

Mushahid Hussain: No. I just got caught in the crossfire. Governments change in Pakistan. One day you're in power, the next day you're in prison. I was not charged. So I was the only Pakistani political prisoner to be declared a prisoner of conscience by the Amnesty International. And they only do it for a person who has not been charged at any time. So, I feel it was one of those things. My attitude towards life is that you have to go through all these experiences and then you go to the new ones with a big heart. You shouldn't hold grudges, you will only get stuck, be a hostage to the past.

YI: You are chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Pakistan has had a long, up and down relationship with neighboring India. I read a recent article, in which you are quoted that relations between the two countries are improving. What about Kashmir?

Mushahid Hussain: Relations are improving. The Kashmir situation is being tackled through negotiations. The possibility of war is no longer there, since both countries are nuclear armed. Overall the environment in the region has become more conducive to launching the peace process, the process of rapprochement between Pakistan and India. And that is now being in the areas of cricket, commerce, culture, Kashmir and other issues. Tourism between the two countries have increased, travel and trade also. And it makes perfect sense. You can't stage Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. The Kashmiris have to devolve. The ball is in the court of the Indians, and we hope the Indians will respond to the initiatives of President Musharaf.

YI: Do you think we will ever see the day when Kashmir is peaceful, and respected by both India and Pakistan. Can you see it as a semi-autonomous region?

Mushahid Hussain: I think we'll certainly see a day when there will be peace in the region and security and stability in Kashmir. I don't want to be too specific until a settlement actually emerges, because there are ideas from the Indian side, from the Pakistani side and from the Kashmiri side. I don't want to put the cart before the horse, as it were. Let the process take place. It's not one event, it's not one off. It's a process which is sometimes tedious, I think we're on the right track.

YI: What about the other member countries of SAARC, have they been affected by the tensions between Pakistan and India?

Mushahid Hussain: Organizations like SAARC are useful for their mechanisms. They bring all countries together on one platform. We are certainly not instruments of peace, or part of the peace process but at least we are present at meetings held every year. This year's summit will be in India. Our leadership will be there, the Indian leadership will be there. So, at least we are talking to each other rather than talking at each other. This is a step forward. And I think SAARC can be an instrument to resolve disputes.

YI: The situation seems to have become more serious in Afghanistan, another neighbor of Pakistan, which is put in a difficult position. Are there military leaders who feel that the Taliban should be helped, in the interest of Pakistan's security?

Mushahid Hussain: That is another case. That is history. Yes, we helped the Taliban once upon a time, before 9/11. The policy was there but we were not the only one. At one point even the United States was helping the Taliban. So that is now part of history. The vision of the Taliban is not the vision of Pakistan for the future. What they stand for is contrary to the values of Islam, and contrary with values of enlightened, progressive, democratic, moderate Muslim Pakistanis. And that is a vision we don't share and which we reject.

YI: But there are elements in Afghanistan which are radical, extreme Muslims. They tend to influence when they cross over the borders. How does Pakistan deal with that? You have been criticized for not doing enough to contain the terrorism that is coming from Afghanistan?

Mushahid Hussain: If the United States, with all its monumental resources and military might cannot stop 12 million Mexicans from crossing the Rio Grande. And there are illegal aliens in America, and if Malaysia cannot stop Indonesians from crossing the border, to work, legally or illegally, no country can do that. We are trying our best, but it's a porous border, 1,560 miles along the Pakistan-Afghanistan boundary. We have 80,000 troops. We have 939 posts on this border. But people cross freely, because it's easy to do that. Eighty thousands troops on the border is more than what NATO, the the Americans and the British have done. It's a collective responsibility.

YI: And then there's the humanitarian factor. People are still streaming from Afghanistan. How much of a burden is that for Pakistan?

Mushahid Hussain: We have 2.5 million Afghan refugees, and we take care of them better than ourselves. At the peak we had 3 to 5 million refugees in the country. I think that's the biggest refugee population in the world. They keep coming on and nobody is helping us.

YI: And some of them are permanent. They don't go back.

Mushahid Hussain: Absolutely. But it is a unique relationship and the credit should go to Pakistan, the government and its people, that they have to take in so many people.