Islamabad on Thursday suspended the 1972 Simla Agreement in a new escalation of India-Pakistan diplomatic warfare over the Pahalgam attack on April 22, that saw 26 killed and 17 injured. The historic peace treaty had been signed by the two nations, following the third India-Pakistan war of 1971.
This was announced after a high-level National Security Commission (NSC) meeting in Pakistan, chaired by PM Shehbaz Sharif, to formulate its response to India's diplomatic retaliation to the attacks: the closure of the Wagah border, reduction of diplomatic ties, refusal of Indian SVES visas, and most importantly, the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty.
“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,” a Pakistan PMO statement said, just after the meeting.
The Simla Agreement, signed on July 2, 1972 by Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto—the then-Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan respectively—was a historic peace treaty, by which the two nations effectively agreed to bury the hatchet and maintain relations with each other in line with the United Nations Charter of 1945.
It was a conclusion to the third India-Pakistan war of 1971, which ended with the surrender of over 90,000 Pakistani troops in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
The bilateral treaty defined a Line of Control (LoC) between the two nations at what was once the ceasefire line at Jammu and Kashmir in 1971, effectively establishing a de facto border there, and also led to Islamabad's recognition of Bangladesh as a nation.
The LoC has long been a point of contention for the two nations, frequently witnessing ceasefire violations, cross-border shelling, and infiltration attempts. The abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, that revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status, intensified cross-border conflict, leading Pakistan to internationalise the issue—a violation of the Simla treaty, among numerous others since 2003.
With the suspension of the Simla treaty altogether, the mutual agreement to maintain the sanctity of the LoC would itself crumble, leading to grave hostilities.
India has not yet responded to the suspension of the Simla Agreement.
