Never accepted Kashmir's accession to India: Pak

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.

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 United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) 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 Jammu & 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 said.

India's stand is that UNMOGIP's role has been overtaken by the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control.

India on Tuesday said it has told the UNMOGIP to vacate its government bungalow to "rationalise" the presence of the group which the government says has "outlived its relevance".

UNMOGIP observers have been located at the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir since 1949 and supervise the truce between the two neighbours.