Pakistan’s foreign ministry confirmed that no decision has been made to cancel any bilateral agreements with India, including the historic 1972 Simla Agreement, just a day after defence minister Khawaja Asif called the agreement “a dead document.” A senior foreign office official stated that although recent events have prompted internal deliberations in Islamabad, no formal steps have been taken to revoke current accords with New Delhi.
“At present, there is no formal decision to terminate any bilateral accord,” an official conveyed. He stated that all treaties, including the Simla Agreement, continue to be in effect. The defense minister claimed in a televised interview on 3rd June that the Simla Agreement was no longer relevant due to India’s “unilateral actions,” including the withdrawal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
“The Simla Agreement is now a dead document. We are back to the 1948 position, when the United Nations declared the Line of Control a ceasefire line,” he alleged relating it to the initial conflict between India and Pakistan. He added that the agreement’s intended bilateral framework has broken down, making multilateral or international institutions necessary to resolve future conflicts. He also raised concerns regarding the feasibility of alternative agreements such as the Indus Waters Treaty which was suspended by India, implying that “Simla is already over.”
This clarification is provided in light of the rising tensions that have emerged after the Pahalgam terror attack on 22nd April, along with the Indian strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7th, as well as the following attacks on critical military installations in the Islamic Republic in response to the assaults on civilian areas in the border states, especially Jammu and Kashmir.
Khawaja Asif recently grabbed eyeballs when he made a mockery of hismelf on CNN as he attributed his nation’s claims of having downed five Indian fighter jets, including Rafales during “Operation Sindoor” to ‘social media posts.’ Pakistan has been relentless in its propaganda in light of the rising tensions between the two countries.
“It is all on social media, and Indian social media, not our social media. The debris of the jets fell on their side. It is all over the Indian media,” he replied when CNN interviewer Becky Anderson asked him for any concrete evidence to back the claims. “You’re the defence minister, sir. The reason to talk to you today, is not to talk about content all over social media,” she interjected and pointed out that he was not summoned to talk about social media content but rather to present genuine proof.
When she again urged him to substantiate his statement with evidence, inquiring whether any Chinese equipment was utilized to bring down the Rafael jets, he denied and then continued to stumble over his words.
