Govt. should explain why UNMOGIP has been asked to vacate Delhi bungalow: D. Raja

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Friday maintained that it was for the government to explain as to why it had asked the United Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to vacate a government-provided bungalow in the national capital.

"It is for government to explain, the PMO and the defence ministry should explain. It has some impact on our security and such things, it is for government to give an explanation on this," Raja said.

The foreign ministry said on Tuesday the government had asked UNMOGIP to hand over the Delhi premises from where it was running a liaison office for more than 40 years for free as part of efforts to rationalise the mission's presence in India.

New Delhi has cited that the U.N. had little role to play after India and Pakistan signed the Simla Pact in 1972 under which the two countries agreed to resolve all disputes including Kashmir bilaterally.

The small U.N. mission has its main offices in Srinagar on the Indian side and in Islamabad on the Pakistani side as part of a U.N. Security Council resolution to supervise the ceasefire in the divided region.