UN Appoints Swedish Major General To Monitor Ceasefire Line Between India, Pakistan

To monitor the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Major General Per Lodin of Sweden as the head of the United Nations mission.

Major General Lodin succeeds Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana, who completes his two-year assignment as Chief Military Observer and Head of Mission for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on 2 July.

 Peacekeepers from the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan 

(UNMOGIP) at the LoC that separates the two countries.

 

India has maintained that UNMOGIP has outlivedits utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement andthe consequent establishment of the Line of Control (LoC), media agencies reported.

With a military career in the Swedish Army beginning in 1978, Major General Lodin most recently held the position of Director of Procurement and Logistics for the Swedish Armed Forces, the UN Press release stated.

According to the Security Council mandate given in resolution 307 of 1971, UNMOGIP observes and reports on ceasefire violations along and across the Line of Control and the working boundary between the South Asian neighbours in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as reports developments that could lead to ceasefire violations.

The first group of United Nations military observers arrived in the mission area on 24 January of 1949 to supervise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. These observers, under the command of the Military Adviser appointed by the UN Secretary-General, formed the nucleus of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

Following renewed hostilities of 1971, UNMOGIP has remained in the area to observe developments pertaining to the strict observance of the ceasefire of 17 December 1971 and report thereon to the Secretary-General.