Even as India has asked United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to vacate its Government accommodations here, Pakistan said such measures would not have any impact on the legal status of the Kashmir dispute.
Reacting to India’s stand, Pakistan said it never accepted Kashmir’s accession to India. Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said in Islamabad asking the UN Observers to move out was inconsequential with regard to Kashmir’s status. “As long as the Kashmir dispute is not resolved, the UN Security Council mandate remains. These measures are inconsequential and they do not have any impact on the legal status of the dispute,” Aslam said.
India countered saying it believes in moving forward than looking behind and discussing decade old issues. “We talk of issues with our neighbours of future and present. We do not talk about issues that are of old century” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
Akbaruddin asserted the move on UNMOGIP was in line with efforts to rationalize the UN body’s presence in India. He added the decision was consistent with India’s long-standing view that UNMOGIP has outlived its relevance. “India’s generic position is clear. This step is both to rationalize their presence and monetize their facilities,” said Akbaruddin.
India believes the UN body had no role to play after India and Pakistan signed the Shimla agreement in 1972 on finding a bilateral solution to their dispute over Kashmir. However, UN officials in New Delhi told agencies that UN Security Council resolution calls for the body to monitor and observe the border and report violations of a cease-fire agreement between India and Pakistan. UNMOGIP in New Delhi insisted that it will continue its operations in India in keeping with its original mandate. The body has started looking for new space to rent.
UNMOGIP was given a plush accommodation in New Delhi free of charge 40 years ago. The group also has offices in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad, the main city in the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir.