No decision yet to scrap bilateral agreements with India: Pakistan

Pakistan’s foreign ministry stated on Thursday that no formal decision had been made to scrap any bilateral agreements with India, including the key 1972 Simla Agreement, despite escalating diplomatic friction between the two neighbours.

This statement came just a day after Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, declared the Simla Agreement to be irrelevant, calling it a “dead document” due to India’s recent actions, particularly the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Asif said, “The Simla Agreement is now a dead document. We are back to the 1948 position,” referencing the Line of Control (LoC) as a ceasefire line established after the first India-Pakistan war.

According to a senior Foreign Office official speaking to the Express Tribune, while India’s actions have prompted internal discussions within Pakistan, there has been no formal move to annul any agreements. “At present, there is no formal decision to terminate any bilateral accord,” the official stated, indicating that the existing bilateral agreements, including the Simla Agreement, remain in effect.”

The foreign ministry’s clarification comes after Asif’s controversial remarks, which raised questions about the future of several key agreements, including the Indus Waters Treaty. “Whether the Indus Waters Treaty is suspended or not, Simla is already over,” Asif remarked, reflecting Pakistan’s frustration with India’s recent unilateral decisions. The minister’s comments also underlined the heightened security concerns between the two nuclear-armed nations.

The Simla Agreement was signed after the 1971 war between the two countries and lays down principles meant to govern bilateral relations.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack, with India carrying out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7.

Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9, and 10. The Indian side responded strongly to the Pakistani actions.

The hostilities between the two sides ended with an understanding of stopping military actions following talks between the directors general of military operations of both sides on May 10.

With inputs from PTI