1972
Submitted by nazirahmed on Mon, 05/19/2008 - 06:14.
- June 28-July 2: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indira Gandhi meet in Simla, India, to deal with consequences of 1971. On the night of July 2-3, after what looks like a deadlock in negotiations between delegations, the two leaders find agreement and thus come to be signed what is known since as Simla Agreement. On Jammu and Kashmir, the accord renames cease-fire line as line of actual control - to reflect some minor adjustments that are mutually agreed on - and while it pledges both sides to respect the new line, a proviso added at Bhutto's insistence says this will be "without prejudice to the recognized position of either side.” It also commits both countries to "further undertake to refrain from the threat of use of force in violation of this line".
- July 3: On return to Lahore, Bhutto announces that "on the vital question of Kashmir too, we have made no compromise, We told them ... categorically that the people of Kashmir must exercise their right of self-determination. This was a question which can be decided only by the people of Kashmir. Neither Pakistan nor India had any say in this matter." However, at Simla, no representative of the people of Jammu and Kashmir from any side is present. Simla Agreement also speaks of bilateral relations being governed by principles and purposes of UN Charter and draws a distinction between the international border between Pakistan and India and line of control in State. India has argued since that Simla rules out referral of Kashmir to an international body including United Nations, while Pakistan maintains that Simla does no such thing and, in any case, bilateral agreements cannot override international agreements. To Pakistan, UNCIP resolutions on Kashmir remain unaffected by Simla, while India maintains that Kashmir has to be settled bilaterally without third party intervention as laid down in Simla Agreement.
- June: Externment order passed against Shaikh Abdullah is lifted, followed by removal of similar orders against Mirza Afzal Beg and G.M. Shah, Abdullah's son-in-law. Begum Abdullah has already been allowed to enter the State in April.
- June 19: Abdullah returns to Srinagar and declares that people of Jammu and Kashmir have still to exercise right to self-determination. Of Simla Agreement, he says that neither India nor Pakistan have any right to decide State's fate over the heads of its people. His utterances appear to suggest that he does not consider State's accession to India in October 1947 as final.
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