UN mediation of Kashmir

The United Nations has played an important role in maintaining peace and order in Jammu and Kashmir soon after
the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, when a
dispute erupted between the two States on the question
of Jammu and Kashmir. India took this matter to the UN
Security Council, which passed resolution 39 (1948) and
established the United Nations Commission for India
and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate the issues and mediate between the two countries. Following the cease-re
of hostilities, it also established the United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to monitor the cease-re line.

and Pakistan failed to arrive at a truce agreement due to

dierences over interpretation of the procedure for and
the extent of demilitarisation. One sticking point was
whether the Azad Kashmiri army was to be disbanded
during the truce stage or at the plebiscite stage.[5]

mir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally

resident therein who have entered the state for the purpose of ghting.' It also asked Government of India to
reduce its forces to minimum strength, after which the
circumstances for holding a plebiscite should be put into
eect 'on the question of Accession of the state to India or Pakistan.' However, it was not until 1 January
1949 that the ceasere could be put into eect, signed
by General Gracey on behalf of Pakistan and General
Roy Bucher on behalf of India.[4] However, both India

In short, India required an asymmetric treatment of the

two countries in the withdrawal arrangements regarding
Pakistan as an `aggressor', whereas Pakistan insisted on
parity. The UN mediators tended towards parity, which
was not to Indias satisfaction.[10] In the end, no withdrawal was ever carried out, India insisting that Pakistan had to withdraw rst, and Pakistan contending
that there was no guarantee that India would withdraw
afterwards.[11] No agreement could be reached between

The UNCIP made three visits to the subcontinent between 1948 and 1949, trying to nd a solution agreeable to both India and Pakistan.[6] It reported to the
Security Council in August 1948 that the presence of
troops of Pakistan inside Kashmir represented a material change in the situation. A two-part process was
proposed for the withdrawal of forces. In the rst part,
Pakistan was to withdraw its forces as well as other Pakistani nationals from the state. In the second part, when
the Commission shall have notied the Government of
1 Overview
India that Pakistani withdrawal has been completed, India was to withdraw the bulk of its forces. After both
Following the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of the withdrawals were completed, a plebiscite would be
1947, Indias Governor General Mountbatten ew to held.[7] The resolution was accepted by India but eecLahore On 1 November 1947 for a conference with tively rejected by Pakistan.[note 1]
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, proposing that, in all the princely
States where the ruler did not accede to a Dominion cor- The Indian government considered itself to be under leresponding to the majority population (which would have gal possession of Jammu and Kashmir by virtue of the
included Junagadh, Hyderabad as well Kashmir), the ac- accession of the state. The assistance given by Pakistan
cession should be decided by an `impartial reference to to the rebel forces and the Pakhtoon tribes was held to
the will of the people'. Jinnah rejected the oer.[1] The be a hostile act and the further involvement of the PakPrime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan istan army was taken to be an invasion of Indian territory.
met again in December, where Nehru informed Khan of From the Indian perspective, the plebiscite was meant to
Indias intention to refer the dispute to the United Na- conrm the accession, which was in all respects already
tions under article 35 of the UN Charter, which allows complete, and Pakistan could[8]not aspire to an equal footthe member states to bring to the Security Council at- ing with India in the contest.
tention situations `likely to endanger the maintenance of The Pakistan government held that the state of Jammu
international peace'.[2]
and Kashmir had executed a Standstill Agreement with
India sought resolution of the issue at the UN Security Pakistan which precluded it from entering into agreeCouncil on 1 January 1948.[3] Following the set-up of the ments with other countries. It also held that the Maharaja
United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan had no authority left to execute accession because his peo(UNCIP), the UN Security Council passed Resolution 47 ple had revolted and he had to ee the capital. It believed
on 21 April 1948. The measure imposed an immediate that the Azad Kashmir movement as well as the tribal inPakistans
cease-re and called on the Government of Pakistan 'to cursions were indigenous and spontaneous, and
[9]
assistance
to
them
was
not
open
to
criticism.
secure the withdrawal from the state of Jammu and Kash-

2 HISTORY OF OPERATIONS

2.2 Status of Indian controlled territory of

Jammu & Kashmir
Scholars have commented that the failure of the Secuthe two countries on the process of demilitarisation.[note 2]

rity Council eorts of mediation owed to the fact that

the Council regarded the issue as a purely political dispute without investigating its legal underpinnings.[note 3]
Declassied British papers indicate that Britain and US
have let their cold war calculations inlfuence their policy
in the UN disregarding the merits of the case.[note 4]

Meanwhile, elections were held in Indian territory of

Jammu & Kashmir, which brought up the popular Muslim leader Sheikh Abdullah, who with his party National
Conference, generally supported India. The elected
Constituent Assembly met for the rst time in Srinagar
on October 31, 1951.[14] Then The State Constituent Assembly ratied the accession of the State to the Union
of India on February 6, 1954 and the President of India subsequently issued the Constitution (Application to
2 History of operations
J&K) Order under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution
extending the Union Constitution to the State with some
2.1 UN Security Council plebiscite resolu- exceptions and modications. The States own Constitution came into force on January 26, 1957 under which the
tion
elections to the State Legislative Assembly were held for
the rst time on the basis of adult franchise the same year.
The Security Council of United Nations on the complaint This Constitution further reiterated the ratication of the
of Government of India concerning the dispute over the States accession to Union of India.[14] New Delhi: The
State of Jammu and Kashmir passed United Nations Se- Government of India states that the external articial
curity Council Resolution 47 (1948).
boundaries of the Republic of India, especially concerning the international borders under its jurisdiction created
by a foreign body are neither correct nor authenticated.
This resolution required among other things that
Pakistan withdraw from the areas of Pakistanadministered Kashmir which it had captured in 1947 2.3 Status of Pakistani territory of Kashimmediately and conditions be created for a free and
mir
impartial plebiscite to decide the future of the state.
The Indian Army should withdraw and maintain a
However, these tidings were not recognized by Pakistan,
skeletal force to ensure proper functioning of the
which asks for a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the
civil aairs of the state after satisfactory withdrawal
people. The people there set up, now called Azad Jammu
of Pakistani tribesmen and forces.[12][13]
and Kashmir in the West help by Pakistan that it controls. The much larger region of Pakistani Kashmir in
It recommended to the governments of India and the North-West, which was a special dependent territory
Pakistan to restore peace and order in Jammu and named Northern Areas in the erstwhile state, generally
Kashmir and provide full freedom to all subjects of bore no mention in Pakistani laws and Constitution as
being of any status, until in 1982 the Pakistani Presithe state, to vote on the question of accession.
dent General Zia ul Haq proclaimed that the people of
the Northern Areas were Pakistanis and had nothing to
Furthermore, it recommended to the government of do with the State of Jammu and Kashmir.[15] Islamabad:
India to establish Plebiscite Administration to hold The Government of Pakistan maintains un-provisionally
fair and impartial referendum as soon as possible, and unconditionally stating that the formal Accession of
a nominee of the Secretary-General of the United Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan or even to the Republic
Nations to be appointed as the Plebiscite Adminis- of India remains to be decided by UN plebiscite and a fortrator, release all political prisoners, invite the ma- mal referendum for a nal settlement of the dispute. It acjor political groups to share the administration at the cepts UN's map of the territory. It also states that the desministerial level while the plebiscite is being pre- ignations and the presentation of the Kashmir's regional
pared and carried out. UN Ocial statement: The map based on UN practice, do not imply the expression of
boundaries and names shown and the designations any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Commonwealth
used on the map do not imply ocial endorsement Secretariat or the publishers concerning the legal status
or acceptance by the United Nations. The Dotted of any country, territory or area, or of its authorities, or
line represents approximately the Line of Control of concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Jammu and Kashmir agreed upon by the Republic of There is no intention to dene the status of Jammu and
India and the Government of Pakistan since 1972. Kashmir, which has not yet been agreed upon by the parBoth the parties have not yet agreed upon the nal ties. It further says that boundaries must be based on restatus of the region and nothing signicant has been ligious, cultural, racial, historical, geographical and not
implemented since the peace process began in 2004. political orientated.

2.4

Status of Aksai Chin in China

Beijing: The Communist government of the Peoples Republic of China maintains its control over what is known
as the Chinese Kashmir of Ladakh plateau, China states
that Aksai Chin is a part of Chinese provincial region the
Xinjiang Autonomous Region and does not recognise the
addition of Aksai Chin to the Kashmir region.
China did not accept the boundaries of the princely
state of Kashmir and Jammu, north of the Aksai
Chin and the Karakoram that were proposed by the
British Empire.[16]
China settled its border disputes with Pakistan in the
Trans-Karakoram Tract of 1963 with the provision
that the settlement was subject to the nal solution
of the Kashmir dispute.[17] However recognized by
Pakistan as part of China as it is claimed, stating
that the Line of Actual Control is not demarcated
or boundary undened, the frontier is yet to be nalised, between Islamabad and Beijing as part of
the Sino-Pak border agreement.

4 Map issues
Map of UN' version of the South Asia region
Map of UN's version of Pakistan
Map of UN's version of the Kashmir region
Map of UN's version of the Republic of India and
border areas
As with other disputed territories, each government issues maps depicting their claims in Kashmir as part of
their territory, regardless of actual control. It is illegal in
India to exclude all or part of Kashmir in a map. It is
also illegal in Pakistan not to include the state of Jammu
and Kashmir as disputed territory, as permitted by the
U.N. Non-participants often use the Line of Control and
the Line of Actual Control as the depicted boundaries, as
is done in the CIA World Factbook, and the region is often marked out in hashmarks, although the Indian government strictly opposes such practices. When Microsoft released a map in Windows 95 and MapPoint 2002, a controversy was raised because it did not show all of Kashmir as part of India as per Indian claim. However, all
the neutral and Pakistani companies claim to follow UN's
map and over 90% of all maps containing the territory of
Kashmir show it as disputed territory.

United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pak- 5 See also
istan

Hurriyat and Problems before Plebiscite

Resolution 47(1948) also enlarged the membership of the

UNCIP and its role to observe ceasere. India and Pakistan signed Karachi Agreement in March 1951 and established a ceasere line to be supervised by observers.
After the termination of UNCIP, the Security Council passed another resolution 91(1951) and established
United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to observe and report violations of
ceasere.
After Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 the two countries
signed the Simla Agreement in 1972 to dene the Line
of Control in Kashmir. India and Pakistan disagree on
UNMOGIPs mandate in Kashmir because India argued
that the mandate of UNMOGIP has lapsed after Simla
agreement because it was specically established to observe ceasere according to Karachi Agreement.
However, The Secretary General of the United Nations
maintained that the UNMOGIP should continue to function because no resolution has been passed to terminate
it. The military authorities of Pakistan have continued
to lodge complaints with UNMOGIP about ceasere violations. The military authorities of India 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.[18]

Syed Ali Shah Geelani

Kashmir conict
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election,
2014

6 Notes
[1] Korbel (1953, p. 502): Though India accepted the resolution, Pakistan attached to its acceptance so many reservations, qualications and assumptions as to make its answer `tantamount to rejection'.
[2] Korbel (1953, pp. 506507): When a further Security
Council resolution urged the governments of India and
Pakistan to agree within thirty days on the demilitarization of Kashmir, on the basis of Dr. Grahams recommendation, Pakistan once more accepted and India once
more refused....Dr. Graham met the Indian request for
retaining in Kashmir 21,000 men, but continued to propose 6,000 soldiers on the Azad side. Pakistan could not
accept the rst provision and India continued to insist on
its stand concerning the Azad forces. The meeting, which
ended in failure, was accompanied by bitter comments in
the newspapers of both India and Pakistan about United
Nations intervention in the Kashmir dispute.

[3]

7
Korbel (1953, p. 507): With the hindsight of six
years, the Councils approach, though impartial and
fair, appears to have been inadequate in that it did
not reect the gravity of the Kashmir situation....
The Security Council did not deal with either of
these arguments [Indias assumption of the legal validity of the accession and Pakistans refusal to recognize its validity]. Nor did it consider the possibility of asking the International Court of Justice for
an advisory opinion on the juridical aspect of the
conict under Article 96 of the Charter. Nor did it
invoke any provisions of Chapter VII of the Charter, which deals with `acts of aggression'.
Subbiah (2004, p. 180): From the beginning, the
Security Council framed the problem as primarily a
political dispute rather than looking to a major legal underpinning of the dispute: the Instrument of
Accessions validity or lack thereof.

[4]

Ankit (2013, p. 276): To Cadogan [Britains permanent representative at the UN], irrespective of
whether forces in question are organised or disorganised or whether they are controlled by, or enjoy
the convenience of, Government of Pakistan, India was entitled to take measures for self-defence:
repelling invaders, pursuing invaders into Pakistan
under Article 51 of the UN Charter and charging
Pakistan as aggressor under Article 35.
Ankit (2013, p. 279): Mountbatten, too, pleaded
directly with Attlee along political as well as personal lines: I am convinced that this attitude of
the United States and the United Kingdom is completely wrong and will have far reaching results.
Any prestige I may previously have had with my
Government has of course been largely lost by my
having insisted that they should make a reference
to the United Nations with the assurance that they
would get a square deal there.

References

[1] Noorani 2014, pp. 13-14.

[2] Schoeld 2003, pp. 67-68.

REFERENCES

[11] Varshney 1992, p. 212.

[12] A Brief History of Kashmir Conict, The Daily Telegraph, 2004-11-10
[13] UN Security Council, Resolution 47 (1948) of 21 April
1948, 21 April 1948. S/RES/47 (1948), United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees
[14] Major Events. Jammu and Kashmir Government, India.
Retrieved 2007-01-09.
[15] A Comprehensive Note on Jammu & Kashmir: The
Northern Areas. Embassy of India, Washington D.C.
Retrieved 2007-01-09.
[16] Kashmir (region, Indian subcontinent) :: The Kashmir
problem. Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
[17] Factbox: all about India, Chinas border dispute. IBN
Live. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
[18] http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unmogip/
background.shtml

Sources
Ankit, Rakesh (2013), Britain and Kashmir, 1948:
The Arena of the UN"",
Diplomacy & Statecraft, 24 (2):
273290,
doi:10.1080/09592296.2013.789771, (subscription
required (help))
Bose, Sumantra (2003). Kashmir: Roots of Conict,
Paths to Peace. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674-01173-2.
Korbel, Josef (1953), The Kashmir dispute
after six years, International Organization,
Cambridge University Press, 7 (4): 498510,
doi:10.1017/s0020818300007256,
JSTOR
2704850, (subscription required (help))
Noorani, A. G. (2014) [rst published in 2013 by
Tulika Books], The Kashmir Dispute, 1947-2012,
Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-940018-8

[3] Wellens, Karel (1990), Resolutions and Statements of the

United Nations Security Council: (1946 - 1989) ; a Thematic Guide, BRILL, pp. 322, ISBN 0-7923-0796-8

Panigrahi, D. N. (2009), Jammu and Kashmir, the

Cold War and the West, Routledge, ISBN 978-1136-51751-8

[4] Schoeld 2003, pp. 68-69.

Rai, Mridu (2004). Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects:

Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir. C. Hurst
& Co. ISBN 1850656614.

[5] Plebiscite Conundrum. Kashmirlibrary.org. 5 January

1949. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
[6] Schoeld 2003, p. 70.
[7] Varshney 1992, p. 211.
[8] Schoeld 2003, pp. 70-71.
[9] Schoeld 2003, pp. 71-72.
[10] Schoeld 2003, pp. 82-85.

Schoeld, Victoria (2003) [First published in 2000],

Kashmir in Conict, London and New York: I. B.
Taurus & Co, ISBN 1860648983
Snedden, Christopher (2013) [rst published as The
Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir, 2012],
Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins India, ISBN 9350298988

5
Subbiah, Sumathi (2004), Security Council Mediation and the Kashmir Dispute: Reections on Its
Failures and Possibilities for Renewal, Boston College International and Comparative Law Review, 27
(1): 173185
Varshney, Ashutosh (1992). Three Compromised
Nationalisms: Why Kashmir has been a Problem
(PDF). In Raju G. C. Thomas. Perspectives on Kashmir: the roots of conict in South Asia. Westview
Press. pp. 191234. ISBN 978-0-8133-8343-9.

External links
United Nations Military Observer Group in India
and Pakistan
UN Security Council Resolution 39 and 47
BBC Timeline on Kashmir conict

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

UN mediation of Kashmir Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_mediation_of_Kashmir?oldid=737616280 Contributors: Nightstallion, Stephen, Qwertyus, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Wavelength, Alifazal, Los688, Abhishekmathur, SmackBot, Haymaker, Hmains, Nishkid64,
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FrescoBot, IRISZOOM, ZroBot, Mar4d, Danica McBob, American Idiot1, Widr, Sayan rc, ChrisGualtieri, Hridith Sudev Nambiar,
Jamez42, Kautilya3, Human3015, Filpro, Corrector224, Nazeer kumar and Anonymous: 28

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artist: Wilfried Huss / Anonymous
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