Which Indian general chaired the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission?

Indian general K. S. Thimayya chaired the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission. The commission was created under the Korean Armistice arrangements to supervise prisoners of war who refused immediate repatriation after the fighting ended.

The prisoner issue had been one of the most difficult disputes in the armistice talks. The United Nations Command supported voluntary repatriation, while China and North Korea initially demanded that prisoners be returned to their original side. The eventual compromise placed non-repatriates in neutral custody while they were given time to decide their future.

Thimayya, an Indian Army major general, led the commission after it arrived in Korea on 27 July 1953, the day the armistice was signed. India also supplied the Custodian Force of India, which guarded the prisoners and supported the commission’s work. The other participating countries were Poland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Sweden. The commission supervised custody and explanation sessions for 120 days before being dissolved in February 1954.