Series 14 - Peacekeeping Records in India and Pakistan

Major-General Bruce Fraser MacDonald was the commander of the United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission during 1965-1966. Born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1922, he joined the Canadian Army as a lieutenant in 1940. In 1944, while serving with the Fort Garry Horse in the Netherlands, he earned the Distinguished Service Order by leading his tanks in a drive to defeat a superior German force. After the war he held regimental and staff appointments in Canada and overseas, commanding the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade Group during 1955-1960. He was promoted to brigadier in 1962 and was posted to Cyprus during the crisis in 1965. Later that year, General MacDonald was sent into India-Pakistan with the rank of major-general. He went back to Kingston in 1966, commanding the Canadian Army Staff College until his retirement in 1968. From 1968 to 1979 he was president of the Canadian Chemical Producers Association. MacDonald died in 1985.

When India and Pakistan became seperate nations in 1947 the State of Jammu and Kashmir was given the option to accede to either India or Pakistan. The decision to join one or the other created a dispute and fighting broke out, with India charging that Kashmir was being invaded by Pakistan. Pakistan denied the charge and claimed that Kashmir's accession to India in 1947 was in fact illegal. In 1948 after an initial attempt to establish a UN Commission which was to exercise mediatory influence it became obvious that observers had to be with the opposing armies to create a situation conducive to holding a plebiscite on Kashmir. A ceasefire was accepted on 1 January 1949 and the observers took up their positions in Pakistan on 3 February and in India a week later. UNMOGIP was assigned with the tasks of creating a ceasefire line, monitoring disagreements and preventing additional troops moving into Kashmir. It carried out its tasks until the summer of 1971 when once again India and Pakistan went to war. In 1972 the two nations agreed to a Line of Control in Kashmir and the United Nations continued to maintain United Nations Military Observers in both India and Pakistan. This mission was abolished in 1979.

The United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission (UNIPOM) was established in September 1965 to supervise the ceasefire along the India-Pakistan border except in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and the withdrawal of all armed personnel to the positions held by them before 5 August 1965. After the withdrawal of the troops by India and Pakistan had been completed, UNIPOM was terminated.