What’s the reason for targeting Simla Pact?

• Pakistan’s government has stated it can hold the 1972 Simla Agreement and other bilateral agreements with India in abeyance following India’s decision to suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.

• The agreement was signed in Shimla on July 2, 1972, after three days of talks between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

• The agreement focused on the future of post-war ties between India and Pakistan, including the return of over 93,000 Pakistan prisoners of war, and the resolution of the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir.

• The agreement led to criticism from India for not forcing Pakistan to make the ceasefire line the International Border, instead renaming it the Line of Control (LoC).

• Pakistan has violated the agreement many times, funding and arming terror groups in Kashmir, and sending troops across the LoC, leading to the Kargil conflict in 1999.

• The Indian Parliament’s declaration in 1994 that all of Kashmir including Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was an integral part of India, and the 2019 amendment of Article 370, made the Simla agreement quite irrelevant.

• The immediate impact of the announcement will be seen in terms of its meaning for the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and whether Pakistan will now also disavow the LoC that was first named in the Simla accord.

• Analysts suggest that if Pakistan attempts to cross the LoC, India could disregard the LoC and launch operations to claim parts of Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

• Other agreements related to confidence-building measures and information sharing could also be affected.

• India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters treaty could have a follow-on effect, with Pakistan threatening to take India to international courts and calling the stoppage of any water an “act of war.”