JOIN USThe NDA government has asked a UN body overseeing military activity in Kashmir to vacate a government bungalow in the heart of the national capital.
A UN official confirmed that the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was asked to vacate the bungalow, which had been given by the government on a rent-free basis. The bungalow has been occupied for 40 years.
“No reason was given. We were asked to vacate the bungalow,” said Major Nicholas Diaz on Friday. A foreign ministry spokesman said the move was in line with efforts to rationalise the UN body's presence in India.
The decision was “consistent with India's long-standing view that the UNMOGIP has outlived its relevance,” said external affairs ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin.
India has been maintaining that the UN agency had no role to play after India and Pakistan signed a landmark agreement in 1972 on finding a bilateral solution to their dispute over Kashmir.
The UNMOGIP, established under a UN Security Council Resolution, was meant to supervise the ceasefire established under the Karachi Agreement of July 1949.