Explainer: What is Pak threat on Simla pact
If Pakistan complies with its threat of exiting the Simla Agreement, it would be closing the doors on any future negotiations, while handing over to India a moral right to ‘not respect’ the sanctity of the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Islamabad’s threat-laced shenanigans have run the course in international diplomatic circles in the past six decades or so. The implications of Pakistan exiting the July 1972 agreement are being judged across New Delhi, Washington DC, Moscow, London and Beijing.
The Simla Agreement was signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Pakistan counterpart ZA Bhutto, after Pakistan was comprehensively defeated in the 1971 war. In the backdrop was the Cold War (1945-1991) when Pakistan was an ally of the US-led bloc, while India, despite its claim of being non-aligned, was seen as a part of the Soviet bloc.
What Pak said
On April 24, responding to India holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee.
A statement after the meeting said, “Pakistan shall exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not limited to Simla Agreement, in abeyance till India desists from its manifested behaviour of fomenting terrorism inside Pakistan; trans-national killings; and non-adherence to international law and UN resolutions on Kashmir.”
The implications
The Simla Agreement has two key terms — one, it says all disputes are ‘to be resolved bilaterally’ and second, that the sanctity of the LoC be respected.
On the LoC, it says: “In J&K, the LoC resulting from the ceasefire of December 17, 1971, shall be respected by both sides… Neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally… Both sides further undertake to refrain from the threat of the use of force in violation of this line.”
Pakistan has often violated the sanctity of the LoC — famously, one such violation led to the Kargil conflict (May-July 1999). If Islamabad exits the agreement, it would give India the moral right to make a westward thrust with an aim to occupy Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). It would also activate both fronts for Pakistan, already under pressure along the Durand Line it has with Afghanistan.
On the resolution of issues between India and Pakistan, the Simla Agreement says the “two countries resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations”.
This effectively rules out any third-party mediation. India may still not agree to any such mediation even though Pakistan has been consistently trying to ‘drag in’ countries like China, Turkiye and in the past, UK and the US.
The dichotomy
The dichotomy in Pakistan’s statement is asking India to respect the UN resolutions on Kashmir. Islamabad has refused to comply with the UN’s suggestions to pull back its troops from PoK. The UN Security Council was informed in August 1948 that “the presence of troops of Pakistan” inside Kashmir represented a ‘material change’ in the situation.
Post 1989, the waters of the Jhelum have been bloodied by Pakistan-sponsored terror.
In 1994, the Indian Parliament passed a resolution that Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall be an integral part of India and any attempts to separate it from the rest of the country will be resisted by all necessary means. It demanded that Pakistan must vacate the areas of J&K which it has occupied through aggression.
India