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The UN Security Council (UNSC) established the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) in 1949, in which its main purpose is to monitor the ceasefire line between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. Currently, the UNMOGIP has 44 military observers, 25 international civilian personnel from 10 various countries, and 47 local civilian staff. The UNMOGIP’s military observers conduct field tasks along the Line of Control (LoC), which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan (“Mandate, 2017”). Their findings are subsequently shared with the UN Secretary-General and summary of investigations with two parties. However, India has clearly stated that the UNMOGIP has “outlived its utility” and is not needed after the Shimla Accord Agreement and establishment of LoC in 1971. In this agreement, India and Pakistan agreed to change ceasefire line to LoC and that they would resolve any disagreements bilaterally without a third party participation. In 2017, while India had asked the UNMOGIP to finish its work in Kashmir and when the Ministry of External Affairs had restated that the UNMOGIP does not have mandate to monitor situations in Kashmir, Pakistan still continues to welcome UNMOGIP missions based there (“UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan Current Affairs”, 2018). Indians have also imposed strict curfew upon many Pakistanis participating in Anti-India protests.
Australia was a founding member of the United Nations. The fourth of some of the earliest missions that Australia has contributed to was the UNMOGIP in India and Pakistan. Not only did Australia provide 18 observers for this mission, it also supplied one of the UN’s mediators named Sir Owen Dixon (Aoi and Heng, 2014). From 1950 to 1966, Lieutenant General Robert Nimmo (from Australia) was Chief Military Observer in Kashmir with the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, which was marked as a UN record or this position for this mission. In March 1975 to January 1979, an RAAF DHC-4 Caribou from the 38th Squadron (comprising of 12 men), conducted operations in favor of the UNMOGIP on 6-month rotations. However, Australia withdrew in 1985 from this conflict when it felt that it was too over-committed to UN operations (“UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan Current Affairs”, 2018).
There has been no virtually no change in this conflict since 1972. It is to be noted that India has become firmer in its stance of Kashmir being an “internal matter”. In March 2018, Indian officials targeted and injured two local UN Peacekeepers (““UNMOGIP Targeted”, 2018). The UN has put forth about 19 million US dollars for this mission. While it is evident that India does not support UN involvement with the Kashmiri conflict, it is also imperative that peaceful relations need to be maintained between India and Pakistan. In order to create stabilization within the Kashmiri, the United Nations Protection Force should supply peacekeepers with the necessary tools to protect themselves from attacks from India or Pakistan. If India or Pakistan inflict uncalled violent attacks among each other near the LoC and in Kashmir, specific trade tariffs and minor sanctions can be established from other countries in the UN. Thus, India and Pakistan would then be required to trade with each other initially, in order to obtain and have each other’s resources. Then, with more time in trading with each other, India and Pakistan can potentially develop mutual and amicable relationships between one another. Additionally, the peacekeeper officials should probably be supplied by the nation experiencing the conflict (in this case, India, Kashmir, and Pakistan), so that these nations can establish more familiarity with each other instead of viewing each other as hostile strangers.
Works Cited
“Asia-Pacific Nations in International Peace Support and Stability Operations.” Edited by
Chiyuki Aoi and Yee-Kuang Heng, Google Books, Springer, 2014,
books.google.com/books?id=cxVHBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT34&ots=Uakd6Eubmb&dq
Editorial. “UNMOGIP Targeted.” DAWN.COM, DAWN, 16 Mar. 2018,
www.dawn.com/news/1395572.
“Mandate.” UNMOGIP, United Nations, 5 July 2017, unmogip.unmissions.org/mandate.
“UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan Current Affairs.” Current Affairs Today,
GKToday, 4 July 2018, currentaffairs.gktoday.in/tags/un-military-observer-group-in-
india-and-pakistan.
“UNMOGIP - United Nations Military Observer Group India / Pakistan.” Virtual War
Memorial | Coleman ABELSON, Virtual War Memorial Australia, 2018,
vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/39.
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