Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury clarifies the faux pas he made in Parliament when he asked how was the Kashmir issue an "internal matter" if the "United Nations is monitoring it since 1948.
Chowdhury now says, "Since 1948, Kashmir has been under the monitoring mechanism of the United Nations. So, in the wake of bifurcation of the J&K state, what should be the stand and status of our country?
"Kashmir has always been under the attention of the international forum. If Kashmir issue is so easy, why should this govt yesterday address the embassy people of various countries? I simply sought a clarification from the govt.
"In this parliament in 1994, we adopted a resolution that Pakistan occupied Kashmir has to be restored. It has to be brought into the ambit of our country. Now once J&K has been bifurcated, what shall be the status of PoK?"
The Congress leader's remark in Parliament not only opposes New Delhi's decade-old stand on Kashmir but is also in stark contrast to the country's views on U.N. Military Observers Group on India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) - a group of UN military observers deputed in 1949 to supervise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
India has opposed UNMOGIP's operations especially after the Shimla Agreement of 1972 that says the Kashmir issue is to be resolved bilaterally between India and Pakistan. Islamabad, however, has frequently called for third-party involvement in the matter.
In 2014, India had asked UNMOGIP to vacate the bungalows provided to it in the national capital by the government.
"You say that it is an internal matter, but it is being monitored since 1948 by the UN, is that an internal matter? We signed the Shimla Agreement and Lahore Declaration, was that an internal matter or bilateral?" Chowdhury said in the Lok Sabha.
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