The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday said that asking United Nations observers to close their office in New Delhi, India, which they had occupied for 40 years, did not mean that it abolishes the UNSC's mandate on the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India.
Briefing media here, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam Khan, when asked to respond to the Modi Government's decision to ask the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to vacate the official building, which it has occupied for 40 years, and whether this was a clear message to it that the Kashmir issue has been solved and Pakistan should accept this division of Kashmir, said: "As regards the UNMOGIP, I won't look at it in this sense. Asking the UN Observers to move out of a building or payment of rent is inconsequential in the context of the status of Jammu and Kashmir."
"There is a reason why UNMOGIP is present in the first place. Asking them to move out of the building does not abolish the mandate which was given by the UN Security Council in 1951 under Resolution 91. As long as the Kashmir dispute is not resolved, the UNSC mandate remains. These measures are inconsequential, and they do not have any impact on the legal status of the dispute," she added.
Khan's response came a day after the United Nations agreed with the view that the closing down of its UNMOGIP office in India will have implications for the Kashmir issue.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was quoted, as saying: "Definitely, I agree with what you just said."
The UN observer mission, which is tasked with monitoring the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan, is meanwhile identifying possible alternative locations for its office in India after it was asked by the Indian government to vacate its current premises in New Delhi.
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The UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was allotted the New Delhi office 40 years ago.
The Modi-led Government asked the mission to vacate the government bungalow in the Pura Qila area of the city to "rationalise" the presence of the group which the government said has "outlived its relevance".
"The UNMOGIP is in contact with the Indian authorities and will continue its cooperation on this matter," Deputy Spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Farhan Haq, was quoted, as saying.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin was quoted, as saying in New Delhi that it has been India's "consistent and long-standing view that UNMOGIP has outlived its mandate."
The Indian Government's position on the group has been that UNMOGIP's role has been overtaken by the 1972 Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control.
Akbaruddin further said the government is in budgetary season and "everybody is tightening their belts.