Islamabad: Upping its ante, Pakistan on Thursday asserted that it had never accepted Kashmir’s accession to India saying that the UNSC mandate remains till the Kashmir issue is resolved. Reacting to India’s move asking the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan to vacate their office building in New Delhi, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said such measures would not have any impact on the legal status of the Kashmir dispute.
“Asking the UN observers to move out of a building or payment of rent is inconsequential in the context of the status of J&K. 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.
