09-29-2006, 03:20 AM
<b>Valley victory at the UN</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New York, Sept. 27: <b>In a diplomatic windfall for India at the 61st UN General Assembly, Kashmir has been taken off the list of festering disputes in the secretary-generalsâ latest annual report</b>.
This is the first time in 13 years Kashmir has been omitted.
Simultaneously, there are rumblings in the Security Council for ending the mandate of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which has monitored the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir since 1949.
A few days ago, the General Assemblyâs Committee on Programme and Coordination (CPC) decided not to mention UNMOGIPâs âdeployment in field and headquartersâ for the first time.
Pakistan was the only country to object to the change, but was forced to give in to near unanimity.
India had vehemently objected in private meetings with then secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the UN secretariat in 1993 when Kashmir was mentioned as a dispute in the annual report. Since then, the references have often got worse, with Kashmir being bracketed with such crisis spots as Palestine.
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This is the first time in 13 years Kashmir has been omitted.
Simultaneously, there are rumblings in the Security Council for ending the mandate of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which has monitored the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir since 1949.
A few days ago, the General Assemblyâs Committee on Programme and Coordination (CPC) decided not to mention UNMOGIPâs âdeployment in field and headquartersâ for the first time.
Pakistan was the only country to object to the change, but was forced to give in to near unanimity.
India had vehemently objected in private meetings with then secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the UN secretariat in 1993 when Kashmir was mentioned as a dispute in the annual report. Since then, the references have often got worse, with Kashmir being bracketed with such crisis spots as Palestine.
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