Keeping the peace: stories of Australian peacekeepers - Kashmir

Middle East
Kashmir

Kashmir

Soon after gaining independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan fought a war over the mountainous territory of Kashmir. Kashmir ended up divided. In 1950 an Australian judge, Sir Owen Dixon, was appointed as a United Nations mediator, but was unable to bring the parties to a settlement.

Australia sent military observers to Kashmir from 1952 to 1985. Observers had to be fit and tough: patrols might involve climbing on foot through the snow to positions more than 3,000 metres above sea level. Road accidents and falls in the mountains were among the hazards. Living conditions ranged from houseboats on scenic Lake Srinigar to unheated mud or stone cottages.

In 1985, with no end to the conflict in sight, the Australian observers were withdrawn. Other United Nations observers remain in Kashmir today.

From 1975 to 1979, Australia provided an RAAF Caribou to provide transport and resupply the United Nations observers. In this terrain, a 45-minute journey by air between field stations might take up to 13 hours by road. The Caribou flew to places such as Skardu, high up the Indus valley amid the Himalayas.

Lieutenant General Robert Nimmo

In 1950, Australian Robert Nimmo (then a Major General) was appointed to command a United Nations observer operation, monitoring the 800-kilometre-long ceasefire line in Kashmir. Nimmo, who had fought at Gallipoli and commanded a brigade in the Second World War, had also served with the occupation force in Japan. He was to command the observers for 15 years, until his death at the age of 72 in January 1966. No one has commanded a United Nations force for longer.

Nimmo (who was promoted Lieutenant General in 1954) proved efficient, impartial, and extraordinarily good at getting the different nationalities under his command to work together.