SARGODHA: India would be making a big mistake if she abandoned the path of the 1972 Simla Accord, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said here today [March 18]. Addressing a huge public meeting … he reiterated that Pakistan would continue to abide by the Simla agreement. But he stressed that India would have to do the same. Mr. Bhutto referred to the Simla accord after warning the people of conspiracies against the country in the context of the Afghan President Sardar Mohammad Daud’s talks with leaders of India and Bangladesh.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Srinagar, held Kashmir,] the Awami Action Committee … rejected the recent ag­­r­e­­ement between Indian Prime Minister Indi­­ra Gandhi and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The Committee said the agreement, bringing back Sheikh Abdullah, who was deposed from the Prime Ministership in 1953, was aga­­inst United Nations resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. The meeting was organised outside Srinagar’s Jama Masjid under the chairmanship of … Maulvi Farooq. … Mr Farooq said the accession of Kashmir to India was the act of one man — Sheikh Abdullah — and the people did not support it.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2025