Wars are quite natural in the course of human civilization and as per a few anthropologists, it is a fallout of the intrinsic nature of human beings. Hence, wars are quite likely and scores of it take place on each year across the globe. But only a few of these gain historical significances and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 is surely one of those. What makes it historical is not that the war led to the birth of a new country, Bangladesh, only. But along with it Pakistan did surrender to India unconditionally and the Shimla Agreement that was signed in search of a peaceful solution established India’s supremacy in the Indian subcontinent for the first time. Perhaps it is the time to look into the basics of this India-Pakistan war succinctly. Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, in a nutshell, happened to be a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Termed as Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 preemptive strike on 11 Indian airbases was considered as the formal commencement of war. The war did continue for 13 days only and as a result, it is considered as one of the shortest battles in the post-World War II period. Nonetheless, on account of Pakistani history, it is a part of the Bangladesh Liberation War on the whole and India had been rendering straightforward financial and military support for the operatives of Mukti Bahini Bengali (armed liberators for Bangladesh). Simla Agreement was signed between Pakistan and India as fallout of the historical war and to establish lasting peace in the fragmented and hurt subcontinent. As it was predicted, agreement did establish the principles that ought to rule their future relations. It also conceptualized steps to be adopted for farther normalization of mutual relations. Above all, it did compel the two antagonistic nations "to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations". What was most striking, the Kashmir dispute did surface yet again at the time of inking the concord. The accord was found to convert the 1949 UN Ceasefire line into new boundary undefined (LAC) between Pakistan and India. Nevertheless, it did not have an effect on the position of the controversial territory, ever since 1972. As far as the agreement is concerned, Para 6 of it records “ a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir “ as one of the outstanding question awaiting for a settlement. It states substantially, "In Jammu and Kashmir, the Line of Control resulting from the cease-fire of December 17, 1971 shall be respected by both sides without prejudice to the recognised position of either side and is not a final agreement pending a final agreement will be further negotiated, Kashmiris also should be included in the Peace process between the two now nuclear rival Nation-states. Neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally irrespective of mutual differences and legal interpretations.” Other implications of Shimla Agreement The agreement made the prospect of formal acknowledgment of Bangladesh by Pakistan easier. As a response to the same, India resolved not to put 90,368 Pakistani prisoners of war on trial and let them go. It is worthwhile to mention that Simla Agreement has been the foundation of all succeeding bilateral talks between India and Pakistan.
the indo-pak war of 1971 led to simla agreement. the fact to be noted is that even after signing simla agreement in 1971 we had kargil war with pakistan in 1999. pakistan showed no signs of peace as it cotinued to invade parts of kashmir and even after defeat in kargil war 1999 at the hands of india, it till date continues to irritate india with acitivites like 26/11 attacks. so simla agreement was more of a formality for pak
