NAME:MRINMOY GHOSH

A90487216030

INTERNATIONAL
ORGANISATIONS
Q) ROLE OF UN PEACKEKEEPING MISSIONS IN KASHMIR. WAS IT A PARTIAL SUCCESS
OR A TOTAL FAILURE?

A) 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. In January 1948, the Security Council adopted
resolution 39 (1948), establishing the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to
investigate and mediate the dispute. In April 1948, by its resolution 47 (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 the military observers. These observers, under the command of the Military
Adviser, formed the nucleus of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
(UNMOGIP). On 30 March 1951, following the termination of UNCIP, the Security Council, by its
resolution 91 (1951) decided that UNMOGIP should continue to supervise the ceasefire in Kashmir.
UNMOGIP's functions were to observe and report, investigate complaints of ceasefire violations and
submit its finding to each party and to the Secretary-General.

In early 1965, relations between India and Pakistan were strained again because of their conflicting
claims over the Rann of Kutch at the southern end of the international boundary. The situation steadily
deteriorated during the summer of 1965, and, in August, military hostilities between India and Pakistan
erupted on a large scale along the ceasefire line in Kashmir. In his report15 of 3 September 1965, the
Secretary-General stressed that the ceasefire agreement of 27 July 1949 had collapsed and that a return to
mutual observance of it by India and Pakistan would afford the most favorable climate in which to seek a
resolution of political differences. On 4 September 1965, the Security Council, by resolution 209 (1965),
called for a ceasefire and asked the two Governments to cooperate fully with UNMOGIP in its task of
supervising the observance of the ceasefire. Two days later, the Council adopted resolution 210 (1965), by
which it requested the Secretary-General "to exert every possible effort to give effect to the present
resolution and to resolution 209 (1965), to take all measures possible to strengthen the United Nations
Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, and to keep the Council promptly and currently informed
on the implementation of the resolutions and on the situation in the area".

On 20 September, after the hostilities had spread to the international border between India and West
Pakistan, the Council adopted resolution 211 (1965), by which it demanded that a ceasefire take effect at
0700 hours GMT on 22 September 1965 and called for a subsequent withdrawal of all armed personnel to
the positions held before 5 August. The Council also requested the Secretary-General to provide the
necessary assistance to ensure supervision of the ceasefire and the withdrawal of all armed personnel.

Since the hostilities extended beyond the Kashmir ceasefire line, the Secretary-General decided to set up
an administrative adjunct of UNMOGIP, the United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission
(UNIPOM), as a temporary measure for the sole purpose of supervising the ceasefire along the India-
Pakistan border outside the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The function of UNIPOM was primarily to observe and report on breaches of the ceasefire as called for
by the Security Council. In cases of breaches, the observers were to do all they could to persuade the local
commanders to restore the ceasefire, but they had no authority or power to order a cessation of firing.
Ninety observers were assigned to UNIPOM. On 27 September 1965, after learning that the ceasefire
was not holding, the Security Council adopted resolution 214 (1965), by which it demanded that the
parties urgently honour their commitments to the Council to observe the ceasefire, and called upon them
to withdraw all armed personnel as necessary steps in the full implementation of resolution 211 (1965).

As ceasefire violations continued to occur and there were no prospects for the withdrawal of troops, the
Security Council met again in November and adopted resolution 215 (1965) of 5 November. By this
decision, the Council called upon the Governments of India and Pakistan to instruct their armed personnel
to cooperate with the United Nations and cease all military activity. On 15 December, the Secretary-
General reported that the two parties directly involved, India and Pakistan, had informed him of their
desire that the United Nations should continue its observer function after 22 December 1965, which was
the end of the first three months of the ceasefire demanded by the Security Council in its resolution 211
(1965) of 20 September 1965.

In the circumstances, the Secretary-General indicated his intention to continue the United Nations
activities relating to the ceasefire and withdrawal provisions of the resolution by continuing UNIPOM for
a second period of three months and maintaining the added strength of the Military Observer Group.

On 10 January 1966, the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan, who had met in Tashkent
at the invitation of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, announced their
agreement that the withdrawal of all armed personnel of both sides to the positions they had held prior to
5 August 1965 should be completed by 25 February 1966 and that both sides should observe the terms of
the ceasefire on the ceasefire line. At a joint meeting on 25 January, under the auspices of the Secretary-
General's representative, the parties agreed upon the ground rules for the implementation of the
disengagement and withdrawal plan. The plan was to be implemented in two stages and the good offices
of UNMOGIP and UNIPOM were to be requested to ensure that the action agreed upon was fully
implemented. In the event of disagreement between the parties, the decision of General Marambio would
be final and binding on both sides. The good offices of UNMOGIP and UNIPOM were similarly
requested for the implementation of the second stage of the agreement, as were the good offices of the
Secretary-General's representative with regard to withdrawals of troops.

The region of Kashmir, situated on the borders of India and Pakistan, has been disputed by the two
countries since they both became independent in 1947. Kashmir acceded to India, leading to an outbreak
of violence that was ended by a ceasefire and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force.

The UN mission expanded to become UNMOGIP, and it has supervised the State of Jammu and Kashmir
ever since 1949. Hostilities in 1971 led to another ceasefire, mandated through Security Council
Resolution 307.

The military in Pakistan continues to report sporadic complaints of cease fire violations to UNMOGIP,
but the military in India has not lodged a complaint since 1972. Indian authorities have restricted
UNMOGIP’s access, but continue to cooperate with the mission. Kashmir continues to sustain periods of
unrest, despite a ceasefire agreed to by both parties in November 2003, and elections in 2008 and 2014
offering a degree of political stability. Relations between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region remain
tense, most recently characterized by deadly protests in response to the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen
commander Burhan Wani in July 2016. Anti-India protests resulted in the deaths of over 50 Muslim
protestors and the imposition of a media blackout and curfew, the latter of which is ongoing. Moreover,
India and Pakistan are once again squaring off over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, less than a
fortnight after a suicide bombing targeted troops in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 42 and
wounding dozens of others.

Now, in order to understand if the UN missions were a succeeds or total failure, it must be noted that
since that time the UN has twice brokered cease-fires, although the cease-fire agreements were frequently
violated. The UN has put forth a number of resolutions aimed at ending the armed conflict, removing
Indian and Pakistani troops from Kashmir, and resolving the Kashmir question by plebiscite. To date there
has been no successful resolution of the issue. India and Pakistan are at a military stalemate along the
Line of Control, a boundary which was established by bilateral negotiations in the Simla Agreement of
1972. A relatively small team of UN observers oversees Indian and Pakistani compliance with the cease-
fire.
It might be argued that UN peacekeeping has promoted stasis by preventing the sort of full military
confrontation which could resolve the issue. In my opinion the question that should be asked is “if they
were not there, what would happen,” . All these UN peacekeeping missions have their value and they are
rendering and performing on the basis of what is going on in the conflict area. Hence, the missions have
had their share of failures but its success lies in controlling the conflict and putting a stasis on the military
confrontation between the two nations.