November 2, 2001	Friday	Shaba’an 15, 1422

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NEW DELHI, Nov 1: The chief of the United Nations observers in Kashmir apologized on Thursday to the Indian army for his blunt remarks this week in which he had described the Himalayan region as a tormented country and accused New Delhi and Islamabad of playing political games in the volatile area, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

It said Austria’s Maj-Gen Hermann K. Loidolt, chief military observer of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), had written to the Indian army admitting to “stepping out of his mission brief” in making political comments on Jammu and Kashmir.

In a letter of apology to the army headquarters in New Delhi, Maj-Gen Loidolt regretted his statements and said while making comments to the media about Kashmir, he was not “aware of the ground realities as he had recently been posted as the chief military observer,” PTI said.

Expressing dismay, the UN official regretted that his comments had “caused discomfort” to authorities in New Delhi saying he had not intended to blame someone or something.”

Shortly after taking over as the chief of the UNMOGIP, Mr Loidolt had in a press conference on Monday accused India and Pakistan of playing “political games” in Kashmir and felt that United States might have to involve itself to resolve the vexed Kashmir issue. It was not immediately clear if the letter of apology marked the end of the matter for New Delhi which had been angered by the remarks.