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Congress backs government on UN military observe issue

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The opposition Congress on Saturday backed the NDA government contention that the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) mandated to monitor cease-fire violations in Jammu and Kashmir has “outlived its relevance”. The party in a statement issued here asked the government to take the issue appropriately and inform the UN Secretary General through its Permanent Mission in New York about the futility of the UNMOGIP.

The party believed that the mandate of the UNMOGIP has lapsed with the signing of the Simla agreement of 1972, when India and Pakistan agreed to settle all their differences bilaterally through a peaceful dialogue. Absolving itself from taking any such step when it was ruling the centre, the party said a cooperative member of the UN, India continued with courtesies. “After the Shimla accord of 1972, it became irrelevant. That is borne out of fact, that India never field any complaints of any ceasefire violations on the Line of Control to UNMOGIP since bilateral mechanism were put in place,” the party statement said. It added that India has taken a considered view that the Observer Group no longer has a purpose to serve and has therefore, become redundant.

The Ministry of External Affairs on July 9, told the UNMOGIP to vacate its government bungalow to “rationalise” the presence of the group. The UNMOGIP had been allotted a Government bungalow on the Purana Qila Road in New Delhi 40 years ago, free of charge. The Mission was established under a UN Security Council Resolution meant to supervise the ceasefire line established under the Karachi Agreement of July 1949.

The UN Resolution 47 (1948) also gave a greater scope to the membership of the UNCIP and its role to observe ceasefire. India and Pakistan signed Karachi Agreement in March 1951 and established a ceasefire line (LoC) to be supervised by observers. After the termination of UNCIP, the Security Council passed another resolution 91(1951) and established United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to observe and report violations of ceasefire. The United Nations, during the course of its engagement with Kashmir between 1948 and 1971, passed 23 resolutions aimed at mediation and resolution of Kashmir issue.

The Centre’s decision is being seen as a move to get rid of remnants that remind it the international nature of Kashmir issue. In Pakistan the  Foreign Affairs spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said, “Asking the UN observers to move out of a building or payment of rent is inconsequential in the context of the status of Jammu & Kashmir. There is a reason why UNMOGIP is present in the first place. Asking them to move out of the building does not abolish the mandate which was given by the UN Security Council in 1951 under Resolution  91, she said.

Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana recently took over as the new Chief Military Observer and head of the UNMOGIP. The group presently comprises 40 military observers and a number of civilian staff members. 

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