Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday said that the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan was no longer applicable after the former violated the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

India held the IWT in abeyance after the further deterioration in relations between the two countries following the April 22 Pahalgam attack in occupied Kashmir. In retaliation, Pakistan decided that it would exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not limited to the Simla Agreement, in abeyance. It also announced the closure of the Wagah border and suspension of all trade with New Delhi, among other measures.

The agreement was signed between Pakistan and India in the aftermath of the 1971 war; the signatories being Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indira Gandhi. The agreement, inter alia, stipulated that neither party would take any action unilaterally, that the disputes between the two countries would be resolved bilaterally, and that the ceasefire line would become the Line of Control.

Talking to Geo News earlier today, Asif said that the IWT had no room for any party to withdraw from it unilaterally. He said all decisions about the agreement could be taken with the joint agreement of both parties.

“If this is the case and India has begun this [attitude] then the Simla Agreement is between two parties and has no interference or patronage from the World Bank or anyone else, so the Line of Control (LoC) will revert to a ceasefire line, which was its original status as per the [UN] resolution passed at the time of the 1948 plebiscite.

“The sanctity of the Simla Agreement has been eliminated due to India’s actions,” the defence minister added, further saying that its conditions, such as for India and Pakistan to resolve issues bilaterally, were no longer applicable.

“The agreement as a whole after this episode of war has now no value.”

Later, a senior official from the Foreign Office told Dawn.com: “No formal decision on abrogation of any bilateral agreement with India has so far been made.”

Questioned about the response later in an interview on Geo News show ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ about whether such a decision had really been taken or whether it was his opinion, Asif said: “I responded to what India did with the IWT that the same thing will then apply to the Simla Agreement. The same will apply to it as to the IWT.”

He further said: “The Foreign Office has no relation with my comment. I have given my comment in a personal capacity … I think my opinion is correct and that should be our official stated position on this issue.”

In connection with the Kashmir dispute, the Simla Agreement stated that “the basic issues and causes of conflict which have bedevilled the relations between the two countries for the last 25 years shall be resolved by peaceful means”. It also bound both countries to discuss the modalities and arrangements for lasting peace and normalisation.

However, Pakistan argues that India violated the Simla Accord in 2019 when it unilaterally revoked Article 370, altering the status of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. This further enabled outsiders to obtain domicile and purchase property in occupied Kashmir to change the Muslim-majority demography of the valley, again termed as a violation of the agreement.