NEW DELHI: The Congress has supported the BJP-led NDA Government’s move to ask the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to vacate its current premises in Delhi. The party said the group had become “redundant” and had no purpose to serve any further in monitoring ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC). The Congress reacted after Modi Government took a tough stand against the UN body.
“After the Shimla Agreement of 1972, India never filed any complaints of any ceasefire violation on the LoC to the UNMOGIP, since bilateral mechanisms were put in place. India has taken a considered view that the UN body no longer has a purpose to serve and has therefore, has become redundant,” the Congress party said in a statement, adding,
“We understand that India’s Permanent Representative in New York should appropriately inform the Secretary General’s office of India’s decision.”
The UN body had been occupying the house for the past 40 years free of charge. It was established under a UN Security Council resolution to monitor the ceasefire established under the Karachi Agreement of 1949.
Early this month, Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana took over as the head of the panel which comprises 40 military observers and a number of civilian staff members.