Enemies at Rest: The Simla Agreement

The Simla Agreement signed between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 2nd July, 1972 set forth a d?tente in Pakistan’s relation with India. Pakistan’s foreign policy, which had been marked by a spirit rivalry & antagonism towards India had been recasted and red-one to involve a qualitatively new level of relationship based on equity and justice. It is significant that the Simla Agreement was not the result of any pressure from the Big Powers. Nor was it an accord hammered out under their auspices. The two leaders had met of their own volition and worked out a post-war 1971 Settlement. They forged their decision to respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations or by any other peaceful means mutually agreed upon between them. The Simla Agreement furnished the ground rules, as it were, for the conduct of Indo-Pak relations towards each other. The aim of the study is to assess the role of the Agreement in the establishment of durable peace on the sub-continent and trace the reasons thereof. The process initiated at Simla in 1972 reached its consummation four years later in 1976. The period 1972-1976 therefore is significant in Pakistan’s relations with India. The study is both historical and analytical. IT is made on the basis of facts and evidences traced by the author without prejudice.