United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that the UN military observers who man the border between India and Pakistan
NEW DELHI: United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that the UN military observers who man the border between India and Pakistan would continue to be in place.
The military observers group for India and Pakistan was deployed by the UN in January 1949 to supervise the ceasefire, which halted the fighting between the two newly independent states. With the two countries now engaged in peace talks and the border relatively calm since 2004, the need for the observers has been under scrutiny.
The UN top man, during a visit to India, said the two sides should continue the composite dialogue and head towards a peaceful solution to the issue.
He applauded both prime minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan president Asif Zardari for their commitment to peace. He had met them while they were in New York in September this year. He said he was happy that cross-Loc trade between the two Kashmirs has resumed.
However, the secretary general said he was worried about the situation in Pakistan and urged both the international community and Islamabad’s neighbors to help the democratic government to face the challenge.
“I am concerned over the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan,” the UN chief admitted.
Incidentally, Ban Ki-moon has had a long association with India. His first posting as a young diplomat for South Korea was Delhi when Indira Gandhi was prime minister. His son was born here and his daughter is married to an Indian.
“It fills me with pleasure and a sense of history to have arrived in India on the 63rd anniversary of your country’s admission to the UN,” he said in his opening remarks to reporters on Friday.
He was here to deliver the Rajiv Gandhi memorial lecture this year. He had a long meeting with the prime minister where he urged India to push the Myanmar military junta to restore democracy in that troubled nation.
g_seema@dnaindia.net
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}