The Simla agreement is one of the landmark agreements between Indian sub-continent neighbours mainly because it was signed in the picturesque Shimla hills on July 2, 1972, a tremendous turning point in South Asian geopolitics. The treaty was signed by then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the wake of overwhelming victory of India in the 1971 war which resulted in the formation of Bangladesh and changed the map of the region drastically.
The accord provided the basis of peace through an agreement to substitute the Ceasefire Line in Jammu and Kashmir with the Line of Control (LoC), and reaffirmation of all bilateral disputes which would be solved by direct talks, without involving third party. It as well opened the path towards the eventual recognition of Bangladesh by Pakistan.
In the hope to create goodwill and to gain long-term stability, India handed back more than 90,000 Pakistani captives and about 13,000 square kilometers of territory under its control. It was greeted at the time as a diplomatic coup and an act of magnanimity out of superior power.
Nevertheless, to this day, 53 years after the signing, the debate continues: Was Simla really such a diplomatic success or an opportunity lost to end the Kashmir problem in every sense of the term? The Critiques believe that since Pakistan was was ravaged after the war, India would have exploited its superior position that could have given a stronger solution as far as Kashmir is concerned.
Scholar Professor Rajan Kumar of the Jawaharlal Nehru University School of International Studies says the Indian attitude was influenced by the international forces. “International pressure made India favour a negotiated solution, he added. The US and the USSR insisted on de-escalation. When both the US and the USSR had taken sides, backing India and transferring their Seventh Fleet, respectively, a diplomatic resolution was unavoidable.”
The Simla Agreement is one of the legends of diplomacy today, and a case of what could have happened. It is a peace agreement that stabilised borders but left the roots untouched.
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