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Has UNMOGIP outlived its utility? The debate continues

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When Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana was appointed chief military observer and head of mission for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) hardly had he thought that he would receive such a welcome in India.

The Union government asked the UNMOGIP to vacate Delhi bungalow from where it was running a liaison office for more than 40 years for free as part of the efforts to rationalize the mission's presence in India.

Sakyi, 59, succeeds Major General Young-Bum Choi of the Republic of Korea, who completed his two-year assignment in June. Major General Sakyi has more than 35 years experience in military command and staff at national and international levels.

Major General Sakyl served most recently as Force Commander for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. He also served as Abidjan Sector Commander of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire from 2008 to 2009, and Commander of the Ghana contingent in four UN and two ECOWAS peacekeeping operations

A graduate of the Command and Staff College, Accra, Ghana; the Army High Command Course, Army Command College, Nanjing, China; and the ECOWAS Senior Mission Leaders Course, Abuja, Nigeria, Major General Sakyi also holds the Bachelor's Degree in Public Administration.

The UNMOGIP's shuttles its headquarters between Islamabad and Srinagar for six months each in a year. It spends entire winter from November to April in Islamabad and in summer it returns to Srinagar and stays here from May to October.

UNMOGIP was set up under the UN resolution with a mandate to observe ceasefire on the line of control in 1951. The UNMOGIP had replaced United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) that was monitoring the ceasefire since 1949.

After the Simla agreement, the UNMOGIP role somewhat got diluted with India consistently arguing that the mission has outlived its utility. That is why despite ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC, India has not sought any help from the UNMOGIP. Pakistan on the other side consistently argues that UNMOGIP should probe the ceasefire violations which India rejects fearing it might again internationalize the Kashmir issue.

"Kashmiri people are not the party to the Simla Agreement therefore they are neither bound by such agreements and nor has this agreement impacted the international status of Kashmir dispute," said the spokesman of Hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The spokesman said India itself took this dispute to the UNO and this biggest institution of the world not only justified the struggle of the Kashmiri nation but it also recommended the right to self-determination for the people of Kashmir.

"UNO passed 18 resolutions regarding Kashmir and both India and Pakistan are signatory to these resolutions. The order of the government to vacate the office premises of UNMOGIP is equal to running away from the reality," he said

Separatists support for UNMOGIP notwithstanding, the voices against the UNMOGIP presence are becoming shriller in Jammu and Kashmir. Leading the charge is BJP which wants the mission to close down saying the UN has no role whatsoever in J&K, which is an integral part of India.

"United Nations has no role in Jammu and Kashmir. The UN has said Pakistan is aggressor which has occupied our territory. UNMOGIP offices in J&K must be closed. Their presence is serious threat to security and integrity of the country," said Ravendra Raina, state president of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM),

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