The Karachi Agreement of 1949 was signed by the military representatives of India and Pakistan, supervised by the
United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, establishing a cease-fire line in
Kashmir following the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. It established a cease-fire line which has been monitored by United Nations observers from the United Nations since then.
Background
The Security Council Resolution 39 of April 1948 established a UN Commission (
United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan — UNCIP) to mediate between India and Pakistan to bring about a cessation of
fighting in Kashmir and to make arrangements for a popular plebiscite. After negotiations with the two sides, the Commission passed a three-part resolution in August 1948 and subsequently added a 'supplement'. The three parts dealt with ceasefire, terms for truce, and procedures for negotiation regarding the plebiscite. Both the countries accepted the resolution and a ceasefire was achieved on 31 December 1948.
Agreement
The Karachi Agreement formally called the ''Agreement Between Military Representatives of India and Pakistan Regarding the Establishment of a Cease-Fire Line in the State of Jammu and Kashmir,'' was signed on 27 July 1949, supervised by the Truce Subcommittee of the UNCIP.
The signatories were:
# Lt. Gen.
S. M. Shrinagesh
General Satyawant Mallanna Shrinagesh (also known as Satyavant Shrinagule Mallannah) (11 May 1903 – 27 December 1977) was an Indian military officer who served as 3rd Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 14 May 1955 till 7 May 1957. Af ...
, on behalf of India
# Maj. Gen.
W. J. Cawthorn, on behalf of Pakistan
# Hernando Samper and M. Delvoie, on behalf of the UNCIP.
The other members of the Indian delegation were Maj. Gen.
K. S. Thimayya
General Kodendera Subayya Thimayya (31 March 1906 - 18 December 1965) was a distinguished soldier of the Indian Army who served as Chief of Army Staff from 1957 to 1961 in the crucial years leading up to the conflict with China in 1962. Gen. ...
, Brig.
Sam Manekshaw
Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw (3 April 1914 – 27 June 2008), widely known as Sam Manekshaw and Sam Bahadur ("Sam the Brave"), was the Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of ...
, Maj.
S. K. Sinha (who acted as the ''aide-de-camp'' for Gen. Srinagesh), and the secretaries of the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs. The Pakistani delegation included Maj. Gen. Nazir Ahmed and Brig. Sher Khan and civil servants M. Ayub and A. A. Khan. The military representatives of the two sides negotiated for a week starting 18 July to demarcate the positions under their control.
S. K. Sinha stated that the Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India du ...
briefed the Indian delegation before the Karachi meeting, wherein he informed them that the
UN Resolution
A United Nations resolution (UN resolution) is a formal text adopted by a United Nations (UN) body. Although any UN body can issue resolutions, in practice most resolutions are issued by the Security Council or the General Assembly.
Legal stat ...
conceded the legality of Kashmir's accession to India and, so, any "no man's land" would belong to India. The Pakistani delegation would need to produce proof to the UN Commission of factual positions of their control for all the territory they claim. Sinha stated that, based on this principle, the agreement demarcated several hundred square miles of territory on the Indian side even though there were no Indian troops in that territory.
[Claude Arpi]
The myths of wild roses and Pakistani presence in Siachen
Daily News and Analysis, 28 May 2012.
The 830 kilometre long ceasefire line established in the agreement started from a southernmost point just west of the
Chenab river in
Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...
. It ran in a rough arc northwards and then northeastwards to the map coordinate
NJ9842, about 19 km north of the
Shyok river
The Shyok River is a tributary of the Indus River that flows through northern Ladakh and enters Gilgit–Baltistan, spanning some .
The Shyok River originates at the Rimo Glacier, one of the tongues of Siachen Glacier. Its alignment is ver ...
.
From the map point NJ9842, it was said to run due north to the international boundary with China, at a distance of about 60–65 km. Since there were no troops in that area of inaccessible glacial terrain, no effort was made to extend the ceasefire line between NJ9842 and the China border. This area, of the
Siachen Glacier
The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kara ...
, eventually became a bone of contention between India and Pakistan.
Another anomaly arose at the southern end of the ceasefire line in
Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...
. From the terminus of the ceasefire line to the international boundary between Indian and Pakistani
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...
, there was a gap of over 200 km, which was covered by a recognised "provincial boundary" between Pakistani Punjab and the
princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. India generally referred to this boundary as the "international border", whereas Pakistan referred to it as the "border" or the "working border".
Map of the Agreement
U.N. document number S/1430/Add.2 (which is the second
addendum to the 1949 Karachi Agreement) shows the Cease Fire Line (CFL) marked on the Map of the State of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
. Title of this addendum reads:
Map of the State of Jammu and Kashmir showing the Cease Fire Line as Agreed Upon in the Karachi Agreement, Ratified by the Governments of India and Pakistan on 29 and 30 July Respectively. (See Annex 26 to the third Interim Report of the United Nation Commission for India and Pakistan)
U.N. Map illustrating Cease Fire Line as per Karachi Agreement
The Karachi Agreement between India and Pakistan established a cease-fire line to be supervised by the military observers. These observers, under the command of the
Military Advisor, formed the nucleus of the
United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). On 30 March 1951, following the termination of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP), the Security Council, by Resolution 91 (1951) decided that UNMOGIP should continue to supervise the cease-fire line in Kashmir. UNMOGIP's functions were to observe and report, investigate complaints of cease-fire violations and submit its findings to each party and to the Secretary-General.
Time U.N. observers left Kashmir: India
/ref>
See also
* NJ9842
* Simla Agreement
* United Nations Security Council Resolution 47
The United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on 21 April 1948, concerns the resolution of the Kashmir conflict. After hearing arguments from both India and Pakistan, the Council increased the size of the UN Commission created by t ...
* Karachi Agreement (Azad Kashmir)
References
External links
Complete text of the agreement
Full text of the Karachi Agreement
UN Peacemaker
UN Map showing CFL as per Karachi Agreement - UN document number S/1430/Add.2
Dag Digital Library - the United Nations
UN Commission for India and Pakistan: annexes to the interim report
Annex 26
All peace agreement for India
UN Peacemaker
All peace agreements for Pakistan
UN Peacemaker
Bibliography
*
* John Cherian
Frontline, 17 July 1999
*
*
External links
Karachi Agreement
United Nations Peacemaker website.
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Peace treaties of Pakistan
Peace treaties of India
Treaties involving territorial changes
Diplomacy regarding the Kashmir conflict
India–Pakistan relations
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1949 in Pakistan
Treaties concluded in 1949
Treaties entered into force in 1949
Treaties of the Dominion of India
India–Pakistan treaties
Government of Liaquat Ali Khan