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UNITED NATIONS MILITARY
GROUP IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN UNMOGIP
This mission was established in 1949 to observe the
Cease-Fire Line between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir area and determine
if there were any violations of the Cease-Fire Agreement. Initially
consisting of only seven UN Military Observers, they were successful in
establishing and maintaining a Cease-Fire Line. Canadian General A. G.
L. McNaughton was heavily involved in the initial stages of negotiations
with India and Pakistan and Canadian Acting Brigadier General Harry H. Angle
was appointed as the Chief Military Observer.
Between 1949 and 1964 the number of Military Observers fluctuated between 35
and 67 according to need and they maintained a reasonably peaceful situation
between India and Pakistan. However, in the summer of 1965, military
hostilities erupted on a large scale and the Observers were withdrawn.
UNMOGIP saw the administrative foundations of future Peacekeeping Missions
established. It was important to Canada as it established our
participation in almost all future Peacekeeping Missions. It was also
during this Mission that the first Canadian lost his life In the Service of
Peace. A/BGen Angle had served with the British Columbia Dragoons
during World War II and had twice commanded the Regiment during the war.
He and three other UN representatives were killed in an air crash in
Kashmir, July 1950.
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