CMO and his MA joined the field tasks of the team from Bhimber field station, Gura Village, Aug. 24, 2017.
Major General Per Lodin recently finished a ten-day visit to UN field stations. He is the Head of Mission and Chief Military Observer of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).
UNMOGIP was established to observe the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. There are 10 field stations along the cease fire line that is monitored by UN peacekeepers. CMO is currently based in the Mission HQ in Srinagar, which will relocate to Islamabad in November as part of its seasonal rotation between the two host nations.
During his visit that started on August 23, he visited Bhimber, Kotli, Skardu, and Sialkot - four of the seven UN field stations in Pakistan Administered Kashmir and Pakistan. The CMO informed us that he had visited all field stations at least twice since he joined the mission last year in July 2016.
“It is important for me to be out and to meet our really professional military observers and see how they are doing their work,” he said. “Even if I have my main headquarters in Srinagar at the moment, that doesn’t mean that I am not in Pakistan Administered Kashmir because my area of responsibility is on both sides of the ceasefire line,” he added.
UN Peacekeepers monitor the ceasefire by performing tasks such as investigations of alleged ceasefire violations, area reconnaissance (including interaction with locals), observation posts, and field trips. During his visit to the four field stations, CMO joined the UNMOs on their daily field tasks.
“It is really important for me to follow our teams when they go out to perform their respective tasks,” he said.
CMO also held meetings with the Pakistani Army representatives and government officials during his visit.
“I visited and shared really good information with the Deputy Commissioner in the town of Shigar,” he said. “It [the visit] also gives me an opportunity to meet commanders from the Pakistan army and interact with them and by doing that I get quite a good perception of the overall situation in different areas,” he added.