INDIA HAS BEEN REJECTING MEDIATION: FROM KASHMIR BILATERALISM TO TRUMP TARIFFS

India's determination to keep foreign powers out of the Kashmir dispute was formalized after the 1971 war, when India's support for Bangladeshi independence led to the defeat and dismemberment of Pakistan.

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that the Instrument of Accession made the territory part of India. Early attempts at internationalisation convinced Indian leaders that external involvement often created pressure on New Delhi rather than on Islamabad.

The Simla Agreement and bilateralism codified India's determination to keep foreign powers out of the Kashmir dispute was formalised after the 1971 war, when India's support for Bangladeshi independence led to the defeat and dismemberment of Pakistan.

At Simla in July 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto signed a treaty that converted the 1971 ceasefire line into the Line of Control and agreed that "the two countries are resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations".

The Simla Agreement also stipulated that neither side would unilaterally alter the situation or seek outside intervention.

This clause became India's legal basis for rejecting third-party mediation; New Delhi has since cited Simla whenever foreign leaders or international organisations propose to intervene.

The Cold War pattern: Non-alignment vs. alliances

During the Cold War, the two South Asian neighbours pursued divergent external alignments.

Pakistan joined U.S.-backed pacts such as the Baghdad Pact and later became a conduit for the U.S.-China rapprochement and for American support to the Afghan mujahideen, while India championed non-alignment.

Yet India was not above seeking outside support when it suited its interests; the Soviet Union brokered the Tashkent Declaration after the 1965 war.

Still, the memory of the U.S. tilt toward Pakistan in 1971, when President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger dispatched the Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal, hardened Indian scepticism.