Simla Agreement: On Thursday 24th April, Pakistan said it will no longer follow the Simla Agreement. This agreement was a very important peace deal signed between India and Pakistan in 1972. It happened after the 1971 war between the two countries. The war broke out when India supported East Pakistan’s fight to become a new country. India won the war, and East Pakistan became Bangladesh.
The Simla Agreement was signed on July 2, 1972, in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. This was a big step toward peace between India and Pakistan. Both countries promised to sort out their problems by talking directly to each other. They agreed that they would not allow any other country to get involved in their issues. The goal was to stop fighting and start solving problems through peace.
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Simla Agreement
One of the most important things the agreement promised was that both countries would try to solve all their issues peacefully. The Kashmir issue was included in this. India always said that the Kashmir problem must be solved directly between India and Pakistan, and not with help from anyone else. The Simla Agreement supported this view.
During the war, India had taken control of some land from Pakistan. Under the agreement, India gave back over 13,000 square kilometers of land. But India kept a few important places for security reasons. These areas were Turtuk, Dhothang, Tyakshi, and Chalunka in the Chorbat Valley. Together, these made up about 883 square kilometers.
Another big thing the Simla Agreement helped with was Pakistan slowly starting to accept Bangladesh as a new country. This was a huge step, because Bangladesh had just been created after breaking away from Pakistan.
Even though the Simla Agreement was made to bring peace, problems didn’t go away. Over the years, many fights happened between the two countries. In 1984, India took over the Siachen Glacier during Operation Meghdoot. Pakistan felt this action broke the rules of the Simla Agreement because the exact border in that area wasn’t clearly written in the agreement.
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The two countries also fought a war in Kargil in 1999. And even today, there are still many problems between them, especially over Kashmir. The Siachen conflict is also still going on. Both Indian and Pakistani soldiers are stationed there, and many have lost their lives not in battle, but because of the freezing weather and snowstorms.
Now that Pakistan has said it will no longer follow the Simla Agreement, it is not clear what will happen next between the two countries.
