India-Pakistan Relations: Major Milestones

1947: First Armed Conflict

The first instance of an armed conflict between the two countries was immediately after Independence and Partition in October 1947. The fear of Kashmir acceding to India was what had triggered the struggle. The Pakistani Army infiltrated Kashmir through tribal forces in an attempt to occupy Kashmir. This was followed by the Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh signing the agreement of accession to the dominion of India resulting in a full-fledged war between India and Pakistan and the solidification of the Line of Control. Even though the war did not have a conclusive victor, India managed to claim two-thirds of Kashmir, while Pakistan got about a third of the territory.

1965 War

The war of 1965 was a result of Operation Gibralter carried out by Pakistani armed forces to occupy Kashmir. The operation was given the codename ‘Gibralter’ in an attempt to draw parallels with the Arab invasion of Spain from the port of Gibralter. However, poor coordination of the insurgency led to the failure of the plan and India responded with a full scale armed struggle that continued for the next 17 days. Large number of military vehicles and tanks were used for the purpose and the war saw casualties numbering in thousands by the end of it. The war ended only after the diplomatic intervention of the Soviet Union and the United States.

The War of 1971

The war of 1971 was unique in the sense that this time Kashmir was not the bone of contention. It occurred as a result of the ongoing war between East Pakistan and West Pakistan. While India gave full support to East Pakistan’s cause, it formally entered into war with Pakistan after it carried out strikes on forward airbases and radar installations of the Indian Air Force. Occurring over a course of 13 days the war saw the largest number of prisoners of war since World War II. The war resulted in the independence of East Pakistan and the creation of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

1972: Simla Agreement

Pakistani Prime Minister Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed an agreement in the Indian town of Simla, in which both countries agreed to “put an end to the conflict and confrontation that have hitherto marred their relations and work for the promotion of a friendly and harmonious relationship and the establishment of a durable peace in the subcontinent”. Both sides agreed to settle any disputes “by peaceful means”.

The Simla Agreement designated the ceasefire line of December 17, 1971, as being the new “Line-of-Control (LoC)” between the two countries, which neither side is to seek to alter unilaterally, and which “shall be respected by both sides without prejudice to the recognised position of either side”.

1984: Siachen Conflict

Popularly known as the Siachen conflict, the ceasefire between the two countries occurred over the control of the Siachen glacier in Kashmir. The struggle ensued after India launched Operation Meghdoot, gaining control over the Siachen glacier. It was followed by Pakistani army launching strikes on several occasions in 1985, 1987 and 1995 to expel Indian forces.

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  • India had accorded MFN status to Pakistan in 1996. A Pakistan cabinet decision of November 02, 2011 to reciprocate remains unimplemented. Pakistan, however, substituted in March 2012 a ‘positive list’ of a little more than 1950 tariff lines, permitted for import from India, by a ‘Negative List ' of 1209 lines that cannot be imported from India.
  • In August 2012, India announced reduction of 30% in its SAFTA Sensitive List for non-Least Developed Countries of SAFTA (including Pakistan), bringing down tariff on 264 items to 5% within a period of three years. This measure benefited Pakistan’s exports to India in sectors of key interest to Pakistan.
  • During the Commerce Secretary-level talks September 20-21, 2012 in Islamabad, a roadmap was established to move forward for full normalization of bilateral trade. However, in the absence of Pakistan implementing its decision of the first step of the road map, viz., permitting all importable items through Wagah/ Attari land route (as against current only 137), the roadmap has remained unimplemented.
  • In their meeting in New Delhi on January 18, 2014, Commerce Ministers of India and Pakistan reaffirmed the commitment to expedite establishment of normal trading relations and in this context to provide Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA), on a reciprocal basis. They decided to intensify and accelerate the process of trade normalisation, liberalization and facilitation and to implement the agreed measures before the end of February 2014. Implementation of these steps [inter alia removal of ‘Negative List’ and removal of restrictions on the number of importable items via Wagah land route] by Government of Pakistan is awaited and it has not responded to the letter of the Commerce Secretary, Government of India, dated January 24, 2014 to confirm the understanding reached.

1999: Kargil War

The Kargil war of 1999 took place immediately following the Pakistani army’s infiltration into the Kargil district in Kashmir. The Indian army retaliated in an effort to drive out the Pakistani infiltrators. Within two months, India had been able to regain most of its territory. The struggle ended as a result of international pressure on Pakistan to withdraw its troops.

1999: Lahore Declaration

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met with Nawaz Sharif, his Pakistani counterpart, in Lahore in 1999. The two signed the Lahore Declaration, the first major agreement between the two countries since the 1972 Simla Accord. Both countries reaffirmed their commitment to the Simla Accord, and agreed to undertake a number of ‘Confidence Building Measures’ (CBMs).

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