Reports indicate speculations looming over the shutdown of the offices of the United Nations Military Observer Group (UNMOGIP) in the Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory.  After the abrogation of Art 370 and 35 A from Jammu & Kashmir on Aug 5, 2019, and giving it the status of Union Territory, there was hardly any displeasure from the world community.

After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the two countries India and Pakistan signed the Shimla Agreement in 1972 to define the Line of Control in Kashmir. India and Pakistan disagree on UNMOGIP's mandate in Kashmir because India argued that the mandate of UNMOGIP has lapsed after the Shimla agreement because it was specifically established to observe a ceasefire according to the Karachi Agreement. Since its existence in 1947, the UNMOGIP has gradually lost its authority to discharge its duty as observers for which they were introduced in both parts of Kashmir, writes senior journalist R C Ganjoo.

In August 1947, India and Pakistan became independent. Under the scheme of partition provided by the Indian Independence Act of 1947, Kashmir was free to accede to India or Pakistan. Its accession to India became a matter of dispute between the two countries and fighting broke out later that year. In January 1948, the Security Council established the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate and mediate the dispute. In April 1948, the Council decided to enlarge the membership of UNCIP and to recommend various measures including the use of observers to stop the fighting. In July 1949, India and Pakistan signed the Karachi Agreement establishing a ceasefire line to be supervised by military observers. On 30 March 1951, under the command of the Military Adviser, formed the nucleus of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) following the termination of UNCIP. UNMOGIP's functions were to observe and report, investigate complaints of ceasefire violations and submit its findings to each party and to the Secretary-General.

According to data released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were no incidents of Ceasefire Violations (CFV) in 2022. In 2021 there were 670 CFV incidents, in 2020 5133 were recorded and in 2019 were 3479. After witnessing over 5,100 incidents of ceasefire violations in 2020, the violations and killings at the border in Jammu and Kashmir this year were at an all-time low in the last more than a decade.

US-based Kashmir Global Council (KGC) director Altaf Qadri on the removal of UNMOGIP offices from Kashmir said, "We believe there is no role for Kashmiris to keep these offices or not. This is predominantly for Pakistan to do whatever it can to preserve these offices. And if they can't do it, how can helpless Kashmiris".

Image courtesy: UNMOGIP