Tashkent Agreement (India-Pakistan (1966)

 BRIEF INTRODUCTION

On 10th January 1966, the Tashkent Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan following the inconclusive war of 1965. The Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan having met at Tashkent and having discussed the existing relations between India and Pakistan, hereby declare their firm resolve to restore normal and peaceful relations between their countries and to promote understanding and friendly relations between their peoples. They consider the attainment of these objectives of vital importance for the welfare of the 600 million people of India and Pakistan and also both sides will exert all efforts to create good neighborly relations between India and Pakistan in accordance with the United Nations Charter. They reaffirm their obligation under the Charter not to have recourse to force and to settle their disputes through peaceful means. They considered that the interests of peace in their region and particularly in the Indo-Pakistan Sub-Continent and, indeed, the interests of the peoples of India and Pakistan were not served by the continuance of tension between the two countries. It was against this background that Jammu and Kashmir was discussed, and each of the sides set forth its respective position. . This article will give all information about the Agreement.

What was the Tashkent Agreement?

The Tashkent Agreement was a peace agreement signed between India and Pakistan to resolve the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 (August 5, 1965 – September 23rd 1965). It was signed at Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan which in turn was a part of one of the republics that comprised of the USSR. The main aim was to restore economic and diplomatic relationships in the respective countries and to keep away from each other’s internal and external affairs, and to work towards the progress of bilateral relations.

Background

The first Indo-Pakistani war also known as the First Kashmir War (22 October 1947 – 5 January 1949) was fought just after the independence of India and Pakistan. A ceasefire agreement led to the establishment of the Line of Control (LOC) as the de facto border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

 In April 1965, Pakistan sent its Special Forces unit dressed as Kashmiri locals, marking the start of Operation Gibraltar/ the aim of the operation was to capture Kashmir by fomenting an insurrection against the Government of

The operation was a failure due to the local population informing the Indian Army on time. This led to an all-out war in August 1965. It continued until September of that year, threatening to draw in two major superpowers of the Cold War-era- the United States and the USSR.

To their credit, both the superpowers used every diplomatic means to bring the two warring nations to the negotiation table. In the end, both India and Pakistan agreed to cease all hostilities after a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for the end of the war was passed on 22nd September 1965

The mediation was done through the USSR, upon which a meeting was held at Tashkent, from 4th to 10th January 1966 in order to create a more lasting peace between India and Pakistan. The discussion was between Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan being moderated by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin

The outcome.

Despite being hailed as a major diplomatic success, the Tashkent Declaration failed to limit any possibility of a future conflict between India and Pakistan. A possibility that persists to this day.

The Tashkent Declaration was criticised in India because of the omission of a no-war pact and no mention was made of Pakistan denouncing its support for insurgency activity in Kashmir.

The declaration only closed hostilities between Indian and Pakistan at the time but it still left the issue of Kashmir still open between the two with neither side able to come to an agreement to this day.