The Simla Agreement, also spelled Shimla Agreement, was a

peace treaty A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...

signed between

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

on 2 July 1972 in

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

, the capital of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

. It followed the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which began after India intervened in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

as an ally of

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini, initially called the Mukti Fauj, also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was a big tent armed guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military personnel, paramilitary personnel and civilians during the Ba ...

who were fighting against Pakistani state forces in the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

. The treaty's official purpose was stated to serve as a way for both countries to "put an end to the conflict and confrontation that have hitherto marred their relations" and to conceive the steps to be taken for further normalization of

India–Pakistan relations India and Pakistan have a complex and largely hostile relationship that is rooted in a multitude of historical and political events, most notably the Partition of India, partition of British India in August 1947. Two years after World War II, t ...

while also laying down the principles that should govern their future interactions. The treaty gave back more than 13,000 km² of land that the Indian Army had seized in Pakistan during the war, though India retained a few strategic areas, including

Turtuk Turtuk is a village and the headquarters of an eponymous Community development block in India, community development block in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. It is a small village sandwiched between the Karakoram, Karakorum Range and the ...

Dhothang Thang (also called Dhothang, Thanga Chathang) is a small village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is in the historical Chorbat region of Baltistan, divided between India and Pakistan by the 1972 Line of Control. Thang is part of the Nub ...

, Tyakshi (earlier called Tiaqsi) and

Chalunka Chalunka (also known as Chalunkha or Chulungkha) is a small mountainous village, in Nubra tehsil and Turtuk community development block, in Chorbat area of Shyok River valley in Ladakh, India. At the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, i ...

of Chorbat Valley, which was more than 883 km². On April 23 2025, India suspended the

Indus Waters Treaty The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 196 ...

, alleging Pakistan's involvement in

2025 Pahalgam attack The 2025 Pahalgam attack was a terrorist attack on tourists by five armed terrorists near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed on 22 April 2025. The militants mainly targeted Hindu tourists, t ...

. Pakistan, in-turn, suspended the Simla Agreement on 24 April 2025 and suspended trade with India closing land and air routes. In June 2025, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif reportedly declared the agreement a "dead document". He stated that whether the Indus Waters Treaty was suspended or not, the Simla Agreement was already over.

Details

The treaty was signed in 1972 in

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

(also spelt "Shimla") in India by

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

, the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

, and

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

, the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

. The agreement also paved the way for diplomatic recognition of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Technically, the document was signed at 0040 hours in the night of 3 July; despite this official documents are dated 2 July 1972. Some of the major outcomes of the Simla Agreement are: * Both countries will "settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations". India has, many a times, maintained that Kashmir dispute is a bilateral issue and must be settled through bilateral negotiations as per Simla Agreement, 1972 and thus, had denied any third party intervention even that of United Nations. * The agreement converted the cease-fire line of 17 December 1971 into the

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but ser ...

(LOC) between India and Pakistan and it was agreed that "neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally, irrespective of mutual differences and legal interpretations". Many Indian bureaucrats have later argued that a tacit agreement, to convert this LOC into international border, was reached during a one-on-one meeting between the two heads of government. Pakistani bureaucrats have denied any such thing. This identification of a new "cease-fire line" by both the states has been argued by India as making

United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan The United Nations has played an advisory role in maintaining peace and order in the Kashmir region soon after Indian Independence Act 1947, the independence and partition of British India into the dominions of Dominion of Pakistan, Pakistan and ...

insignificant. As according to India, the purpose of UNMOGIP was to monitor the cease-fire line as identified in Karachi agreement of 1949 which no longer exists. Pakistan has a different take on this issue and both countries still host the UN mission. The agreement has not prevented the relationship between the two countries from deteriorating to the point of armed conflict, most recently in the

Kargil War The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

of 1999. In

Operation Meghdoot Operation Meghdoot was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces operation to take full control of the Siachen Glacier in Ladakh. Executed on the morning of 13 April 1984, it marks the highest battlefield in the world. This operation preempted Pa ...

of 1984 India seized all of the inhospitable

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range of the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends in northeastern Kashmir. At long, it is the longest glaci ...

region where the frontier had been clearly not defined in the agreement (possibly as the area was thought too barren to be controversial); this was considered as a violation of the Simla Agreement by Pakistan. Most of the subsequent deaths in the

Siachen Conflict The Siachen conflict, sometimes referred to as the Siachen Glacier conflict or the Siachen War, was a military conflict Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts, between India and Pakistan over the disputed Siachen Glacier region in Kashmir. The conf ...

have been from natural disasters, e.g. avalanches in 2010,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Text

Simla Agreement on Bilateral Relations between India and Pakistan signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and President of Pakistan, Z. A. Bhutto, in Simla on 2 July 1972.

Delhi Agreement

The Delhi Agreement on the Repatriation of War and Civilian Internees is a tripartite agreement among the aforementioned states, signed on 28 August 1973. The agreement was signed by

Kamal Hossain Kamal Hossain (born 20 April 1937), better known as Dr. Kamal, is a founding leader, lawyer and politician of Bangladesh. He is known as the "Father of the Bangladeshi Constitution" and regarded as an icon of secular democracy in the Indian subc ...

, the Foreign Minister of the Government of Bangladesh, Sardar Swaran Singh, Minister of External Affairs of India and Aziz Ahmed, the Minister of State for Defense and Foreign Affairs of the Government of Pakistan.

References

External links

Official Document of Simla Agreement
{{Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 in India 1972 in Pakistan 1974 in India 1974 in Pakistan Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto India–Pakistan relations India–Pakistan treaties Diplomacy regarding the Kashmir conflict Shimla Treaties concluded in 1972 Treaties concluded in 1974 Treaties involving territorial changes Treaties of India Treaties of Pakistan