WHAT’S THE REASON FOR TARGETING SIMLA AGREEMENT?

Why is Pakistan threatening to hold the 1972 agreement in abeyance? What are the implications? Haven’t both sides reneged on the terms they had agreed on? What will happen to the Line of Control? What are the other agreements that could be put on hold?

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The story so far: In response to India’s decision to suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan’s government said it could hold the 1972 Simla Agreement and “all other bilateral agreements with India” in abeyance.

What does the Simla Agreement entail?

The agreement was signed in Shimla on July 2, 1972 after three days of talks between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, victorious from the 1971 Bangladesh War, and Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who had suffered a crushing defeat and the division of Pakistan in the war. The talks, for which the Soviet Union did much of the preparatory discussions through Indian and Pakistani envoys in Moscow, focused on two major issues. First, the future of post-war ties between India and Pakistan, including the return of more than 93,000 Pakistan prisoners of war;

second, the resolution of the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir, where they agreed to “settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations or by any other peaceful means mutually agreed upon between them”. In addition, the Simla agreement saw the first formal recognition of Bangladesh as a sovereign entity in a bilateral treaty.

What was the reaction in both countries?