Islamaba: Islamabad has rejected India’s view that the decades-old United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has become redundant.
“We believe that UNMOGIP is playing an important role,” Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said at a media briefing here on Thursday.
The observers monitor the Line of Control or de facto border in disputed Kashmir region on both sides.
“We believe that the mandate for the UNMOGIP comes from UN Security Council resolutions and, therefore, it is incumbent upon both the governments to facilitate its work,” Chaudhry said.
He said for its part, Pakistan is doing that and will continue to facilitate UNMOGIP which is “a source for providing credible information to the UN Security Council through its regular — periodic reports.”
“We have noted with concern that there were some administrative issues for UMMOGIP in New Delhi but we believe it needs to be facilitated in the performance of its very important role.”
The Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad, while speaking to media recently contended that the UNMOGIP has no relevance and that India does not recognise it as it is a useless body.
MFN status to India
On granting most favoured nation (MFN) status to India in trade sphere, Chaudhry said Pakistan and India have been engaged in a series of discussions to normalise bilateral trade.
“Our commerce ministry has been playing a leading role and useful work has been done on the basis of mutuality of benefit.
“When the dialogue process resumes, we hope to build on the work already done in this regard,” he said, referring to the agreement between Pakistan and India to hold foreign secretary-level meeting in Islamabad on August 25.
“There are a number of issues on both sides which need to be addressed. This includes making sure that vulnerable sectors are protected, the issue of non-tariff barriers in India, the issue of imbalance of trade and some other infrastructure related issues,” he said.
