{"id":2444,"date":"2015-08-08T20:51:03","date_gmt":"2015-08-08T15:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=2444"},"modified":"2015-08-08T21:09:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-08T15:39:41","slug":"shimla-agreement-a-diplomatic-feat-by-abdul-majid-zaragar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/shimla-agreement-a-diplomatic-feat-by-abdul-majid-zaragar\/","title":{"rendered":"Shimla Agreement- A Diplomatic Feat by Abdul Majid Zaragar"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>
\n

SHIMLA AGREEMENT-VICTORY IN WAR & DEFEAT IN DIPLOMACY<\/h2>\n

By<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"zargar<\/a>Abdul Majid Zargar \"bhuttoindra\"<\/a><\/p>\n
\n

Noted columnist Zahid G. Mohammad has written an incisive\u00a0 article \u00a0on\u00a0 Shimla agreement reached \u00a0between India & Pakistan in July 1972 after the latter\u2019s\u00a0 defeat & dismemberment in 1971 war with India. It was published in a local English daily on 6th<\/sup> July 2015 and disseminates much of the information surrounding this international agreement. However, there is still some information on this agreement which is not widely known. My endeavor in this article would be to put this least known \u00a0information in the wider\u00a0 public domain for a better understanding & analysis \u00a0of the issue.<\/p>\n

Shimla agreement \u00a0is probably the first & hopefully the last international agreement which is wrongly dated as July 2nd<\/sup> 1972 while in-fact it\u00a0 was signed in the wee hours of July 3,1972. While much is not known about the gaffe , it is presumed that the agreement was finalized & made ready by Indian side in the evening of\u00a0 July 2nd<\/sup> itself. But Bhutto\u2019s hard-bargain made it to shuttle between two sides many a times resulting in\u00a0 considerable delay. It is already known that at one stage, the hopes of reaching \u00a0any agreement between the two sides had completely\u00a0 vanished & Pakistani side had even packed its bags to leave. In fact, thinking that the Shimla meet would end in a\u00a0 failure, T.N.Kaul, an important team member from the Indian side\u00a0 left Shimla\u00a0 for Chandigrah\u00a0 in\u00a0 late hours\u00a0 of 2nd<\/sup> \u00a0July 1972\u00a0\u00a0 to make arrangements for\u00a0 return of Bhutto and his daughter Benazir\u00a0 to Pakistan but a late night one-to-one meeting between Bhutoo & Indira Gandhi saved the day for two countries. A leading newspaper, Amrita Bazar Patrika even reported that \u00a0conference at Shimla\u00a0 had failed.<\/p>\n

The agreement consists of six main clauses. Barring clause VI of the agreement\u00a0 all the clauses of the agreement have been discussed & analysed in detail. Clause VI \u00a0is reproduced below:<\/p>\n

\u201c Both Governments agree that their respective Heads will meet again at a mutually convenient time in the future and that, in the meanwhile, the representatives of the two sides will meet to discuss further the modalities and arrangements for the establishment of a durable peace and normalization of relations, including the questions of repatriation of prisoners of war and civilian internees, a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir and the resumption of diplomatic relations\u201d<\/p>\n

But the fact of the matter is that neither the \u2018heads of two Governments \u2019 nor their \u2018representatives\u2019 have ever\u00a0 met\u00a0 in order to arrive at \u2018a final settlement\u2019 of the Kashmir issue as required under the above clause. Pakistan did attempt twice to hold\u00a0 such a meeting \u2013first when on 18th<\/sup>\u00a0 December 1972,Bhutto extended\u00a0 an invitation\u00a0\u00a0 to Indira Gandhi to visit Pakistan. Second when Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif wrote on July 14, 1992 to prime minister Narsimha Rao to hold a summit as required by Simla agreement.<\/p>\n

In case of first invitation, Indira thought it unnecessary to hold talks with Pakistan on Kashmir issue after it\u2019s complete mauling in the war and also because talks with Sheikh Abdullah had started in the meantime (P.N. Dhar\u2019s book Indira Gandhi, the \u2018Emergency\u2019 and Indian Democracy ).In case of second invitation, it was probably very late to hold such a summit as militancy had already erupted in the valley. In October 1993, US Assisstant secretary of State, Robin Raphel expressed her disappointment over the effectiveness of Shimla agreement because of failure of the concerned \u00a0parties to carry it forward. Similarly clause 1 of the agreement provides that the two countries resolve to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations or by \u2018any other peaceful means\u2019 clearly reserving\u00a0 space\u00a0 for a \u00a0third party mediation which India has consistently refused to invoke.\"shimla\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no doubt that Shimla agreement was a clear diplomatic defeat of India after a thumping win in the real war. It is so because Bhutto was able to freeze the Kashmir issue to be\u00a0 tackled at a more favorable \u00a0time in future thus keeping\u00a0 it alive against heavy odds. At Shimla, Bhutoo was asked whether he wanted his 90000+ \u00a0prisoners of war first or the seized territory of approximately 5000 sq. Miles. Bhutoo\u00a0 preferred the latter. Her young daughter, Benazir accompanying her father on the tour expressed \u00a0displeasure\u00a0 over the surprise choice of her father. Writing in her autobiography \u2018 Daughter of the east\u2019, Benazir says that sensing her anger, \u00a0the sr. Bhutoo \u00a0calmed her and said \u201c the POW\u2019s will be freed in any case. Prisoners are human problem.<\/p>\n

\"Indira<\/a>The magnitude is increased when there are 93000 of them. It would be inhuman to keep them indefinitely. And it will also be a problem to keep on feeding and housing them. Territory on the other hand is not a human problem. Territory can be assimilated. Prisoners cannot. The Arabs have still not succeeded in regaining territory lost in the 1967 war with Israel. The capturing of land does not cry out for international attention the same way as the prisoners do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post conclusion , \u00a0A B Vajpayee, the then leader of the Bharathiya Jana Sangh, described the agreement as a \u201csell out\u201d and called upon all the parties to demonstrate against\u00a0 it\u201d. His main grouse was Pakistan getting back 5000 sq. miles of territory seized during war & Indira\u2019s inability to force a complete solution of Kashmir issue on Pakistan. When Indira & her spokesmen reported \u00a0that Bhuttoo had promised verbally \u00a0to convert LOC into an international boundary, Vajpayee sought a record of all talks between Indira & Bhutoo in Shimla.\u00a0 On 10 April 1978, official spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry clarified\u00a0 that there is nothing\u00a0 on record about these verbal assurances. Ironically Vajpayee was external affairs\u00a0 Minster Of India at that time.<\/p>\n

(The author is a practicing chartered Accountant & \u00a0can be contacted at\u00a0 abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHIMLA AGREEMENT-VICTORY IN WAR & DEFEAT IN DIPLOMACY
\nBy<\/p>\n

Abdul Majid Zargar <\/p>\n

Noted columnist Zahid G. Mohammad has written an incisive\u00a0 article \u00a0on\u00a0 Shimla agreement reached \u00a0between India & Pakistan in July 1972 after the latter\u2019s\u00a0 defeat & dismemberment in 1971 war with India. It was published in a local English daily on 6th July 2015 and disseminates much of the information surrounding this international agreement. However, there is still some information on this agreement which is not widely known. My endeavor in this article would be to put this least known \u00a0information in the wider\u00a0 public domain for a better understanding & analysis \u00a0of the issue.
\nShimla agreement \u00a0is probably the first & hopefully the last international agreement which is wrongly dated as July 2nd 1972 while in-fact it\u00a0 was signed in the wee hours of July 3,1972. While much is not known about the gaffe , it is presumed that the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444\/revisions\/2450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}