- Dr Faisal asks India to permit UNMOGIP to play its mandated role as per UNSC resolutions
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian forces in Leepa sector on July 21, 2017.
Director General for South Asian and SAARC Affairs Dr Mohammad Faisal summoned the Indian diplomat at Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On July 21, the Indian forces violated ceasefire and opened firing and shelling, resulting in the martyrdom of a 12-year-old Kashmiri teenage in Gheekot village, and injuries to three others.
This was the third ceasefire violation by the Indian forces in the past four days. Despite calls for restraint, India continues to indulge in ceasefire violations, the Foreign Office statement said. In 2017 to date, Indian forces have carried out 618 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary.
“The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws,” the official statement said. Dr Faisal urged the Indian side to respect the ceasefire arrangement singed in 2003; investigate this and other incidents of violations.
He also urged the Indian government to instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the Line of Control. He said that the Indian side should permit UNMOGIP to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
The first group of the UN military observers arrived in the mission area on January 24 of 1949 to supervise the ceasefire between Pakistan and India in the State of Jammu Kashmir. These observers, under the command of the military adviser appointed by the UN secretary-general, formed the nucleus of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).
Following renewed hostilities of 1971, UNMOGIP has remained in the area to observe developments pertaining to the strict observance of the ceasefire of December 17, 1971, and report thereon to the secretary-general. In Pakistan, the military authorities have continued to lodge complaints with the UNMOGIP about ceasefire violations. In India, the military authorities have lodged no complaints since January 1972 and have restricted the activities of the UN observers on the Indian side of the Line of Control.