ZAGREB, Dec 21: Croatian general Dragutin Repinc is to head UN military observers in the disputed Kashmir from Dec 29, officials said on Wednesday. He is to take over command of the observer group known as Unmogip which has been supervising the ceasefire agreed between India and Pakistan in Kashmir since 1949.

“This is our contribution to world peace. From a country which hosted international troops under the UN flag, we have become a country which is contributing to peace operations,” chief-of-staff General Josip Lucic said, quoted by HINA news agency.

The United Nations deployed peacekeepers in Croatia during its 1991-95 war of independence from Yugoslavia.

Repinc, 46, who was commander of Croatia land forces, was named to his new post earlier this month by UN Security Council.

Croatia already has seven military observers in the Unmogip.

Kashmir, which is divided between Pakistan and India and claimed by both, has been the cause of two of their three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.—APP