Pakistan defense minister says Simla Agreement with India ‘has no worth' after conflict

Arab News

2 days ago

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Thursday that Islamabad's Simla Agreement with New Delhi, which formalized the de facto border separating the disputed Kashmir territory with its neighbor, 'has no worth' after the recent standoff between them.
India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement in 1972 after the 1971 war between the two countries, which New Delhi won and led to the creation of Bangladesh. One of its main clauses was that India and Pakistan both agreed to bilaterally discuss and resolve the issue of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
Another clause of the agreement was that both countries renamed the Ceasefire Line, the de facto border separating Pakistan-administered Kashmir from the one governed by India, to the 'Line of Control' (LoC). Both India and Pakistan agreed not to change it unilaterally.
After India suspended a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan following an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April, Pakistan announced a raft of tit-for-tat measures against Delhi. Islamabad said it had the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including the Simla Agreement, in abeyance.
'Because of India's steps I think the sanctity of the Simla Agreement has ended,' Asif told Geo News. 'All the status before the Simla Agreement, that we will resolve problems bilaterally, all of its provisions, is not applicable.
That agreement as a whole, I think after this war and episode, has no worth or value,' he added.
He reiterated Pakistan's position that India's move to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance was illegal as the terms dictated that neither of the two parties can alter its status unilaterally.
Signed in 1960, the treaty allocates the six Indus Basin rivers between India and Pakistan, with the World Bank acting as its guarantor.
Pakistan has rights to the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower. India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow.
India can use the western rivers for limited purposes such as power generation and irrigation, without storing or diverting large volumes
Asif said neither the World Bank nor any other institution had any 'interference or patronage' in the Simla Agreement when it was signed in 1972.
'So then, the Control Line will once again shift to its original status of Ceasefire Line,' the minister said.
While the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan announced on May 10 by US President Donald Trump -persists, tensions remain high as delegations by both nuclear-armed neighbors head to world capitals and blame each other for the May conflict.
Kashmir has always remained the root cause of conflict between India and Pakistan. The two countries claim the region in full but administer only parts of it. They have fought two out of three wars since 1947 over the territory.
Delhi blames Islamabad for fomenting militancy in the part of Kashmir it administers. Pakistan denies the allegations and says it only extends diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir it says are living under 'occupation.'