Remember the facts. On January 2, 1948 India submitted a complaint to the Security Council of the UN, stating that people from Pakistan had invaded the territory of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir (State), and “that once the soil of the State had been cleared of the invader and normal conditions restored, its people would be free to decide their future by the recognized democratic method of a plebiscite or referendum which, in order to ensure complete impartiality, might be held under international auspices.”
The Security Council decided the matter through Resolution 47, dated April 21, 1948. It directed the government of Pakistan, “To secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered for the purpose of fighting” and directed that “The Government of India should undertake that there will be established in Jammu and Kashmir a Plebiscite Administration to hold a plebiscite as soon as possible on the question of the accession of the State to India or Pakistan”.
Pakistan complied, and the infiltrators left or were removed. However, India did not hold the mandated plebiscite; the people of the state could not decide their future. In occupying the state, India violates both the Security Council’s Resolution 47 and the commitment it had itself made to the Security Council, which was to hold the requisite plebiscite or referendum. The State of Jammu and Kashmir would most probably have become a part of Pakistan if it had disregarded Resolution 47. Instead of gaining the state, Pakistan lost half the country.
In 1971, the Indian armed forces helped separatists dismember Pakistan. The Indian armed forces also captured many Pakistani soldiers. East Pakistan became Bangladesh on March 26, 1972. In this backdrop, the Simla Agreement was entered into on July 2, 1972 between India and Pakistan, signed respectively by PMs Indira Gandhi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The Simla Agreement reiterated “That the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations shall govern the relations between the two countries” and that “the two countries are resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations”, and “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 is now 77 years.
As pressure mounted to implement the Simla Agreement and the Security Council’s Resolution, a gruesome terrorist attack took place, killing 26 civilians in Indian occupied Kashmir on April 22, 2025. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately seized on the killings and, on May 12, 2025, cited them as the reason for, henceforth, India not talking to Pakistan about Jammu and Kashmir.
India effectively renounced the Simla Agreement – and did so unilaterally. When people are denied their internationally recognised right to choose how to live, they must be tethered and made to obey; crime syndicates do so through enforcement. It is estimated that India has an armed enforcer stationed specifically for every 10 to 20 residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
In his speech, Modi also stated that “India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail”. Therefore, it would be apt to examine the facts. The Subcontinent reverberated with the explosion of a nuclear fission bomb for the first time in May 1974. India comprises an area of about three million square kilometres, but the site chosen for the nuclear explosion was Pokhran, Rajasthan, at just 150 kilometres from Pakistan. The shadow of nuclear flag-waving and the possibility of nuclear annihilation compelled Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to order the commencement of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. However, despite achieving nuclear weapon capability, Pakistan did not detonate.
The next round of nuclear detonations, a total of five, was by India in May 1998. India has about four times Pakistan’s area, but it again carried out the nuclear explosions at Pakistan’s doorstep. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister; he ordered these nuclear detonations, and then PM Muhammad Nawaz Sharif followed suit. However, Pakistan chose a location far away from the Indian border – the Chagai and Kharan districts of Balochistan.
India reacted to the April 22, 2025 killings by unleashing missiles and drones on Pakistani civilians on May 7, 2025. According to India, since Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) had carried out terrorist attacks in the past, they must have carried out the present one too. However, neither the JeM nor the LeT had claimed responsibility. On its part, Pakistan had on January 14, 2002 proscribed both the JeM and the LeT under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.
India was called upon to produce evidence of Pakistan’s involvement or complicity in Pahalgam, but it did not do so. It also did not provide evidence to Interpol. It also did not invoke the UN Charter or the terms of the Simla Agreement. A complaint was also not filed in the Security Council or the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Instead, missiles and drones were sent across the border into Pakistan, which killed civilians. India and Pakistan have ratified the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which also contain rules for declaring war, but its provisions were disregarded – and India effectively declared war.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and other terrorist organisations of the same ilk are operating in Balochistan and have been proscribed by Pakistan, but India supports these terrorists. Indian naval captain Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was captured in Balochistan – irrefutable proof of Indian support of terrorists operating in Balochistan. Jadhav worked for India’s intelligence agency (RAW) and operated under a fake (Muslim sounding) name. He was convicted by a Pakistani military court.
India approached the ICJ, admitted that he was an Indian citizen and naval officer but wanted his conviction annulled and for him to be released. The ICJ, however, declined India’s request. It did though concede to India’s request to provide it with access to Jadhav, and Pakistan permitted Indian consular access. Pakistan had also implemented the Security Council’s Resolution.
India supports terrorism in Pakistan and in other countries, including killings in Canada. It harbours Hasina Wajid, a fugitive from justice who is facing charges for ‘massacres, killings and crimes against humanity’.
Pakistan cannot compete with unrelenting propaganda and the mantra of lies. Facts that are better conveyed to the world would expose the lies – and allow the truth to prevail.
The writer is a former chief justice of Pakistan.