Asif warns of ‘pre-Simla’ reversion if India undermines IWT

KARACHI: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has clarified that his remarks about the Simla Agreement having lost relevance were made in a specific context, and not as an official policy stance. Speaking to Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo News on Thursday night, Asif explained: “I said this in the context of the IWT — that if the IWT is held in abeyance, then the same will apply to the Simla Agreement.”

He added that if India continues to unilaterally alter the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), then Pakistan could also reconsider its commitment to the Simla Agreement and revert to its pre-Simla position. According to Asif, such a development would have tangible consequences and would clarify Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir issue.

Delving deeper into his personal view, Asif remarked that the Simla Agreement had, in his reading, introduced ambiguity into the Kashmir dispute. He termed the agreement “an attempt at deleting history through the agreement”, and said India had signed it from a “position of advantage”. However, he stressed that his observations were his own as a student of history and politics, and not representative of the state’s position. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had nothing to do with my personal opinion at all”, he noted.

Earlier in the day, the minister had made headlines when he told Geo News that the 1972 Simla Agreement had lost its “sanctity” in light of India’s unilateral actions, particularly the suspension of the IWT. “The [Simla] agreement was bilateral […] as no third party or the World Bank was involved”, he had said, warning that without the bilateral treaty, the Line of Control (LoC) would effectively revert to a ceasefire line.

Asif also reiterated that India could not unilaterally withdraw from the IWT, nor could it control water flow at will, rejecting Indian claims of termination as legally untenable. However, official sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were quick to counter any perception of a policy shift. According to these sources, the Simla Agreement remains intact and no decision has been made to annul it. “No such decision exists in written form so far”, said one official. A senior official from the Interior Ministry also confirmed to Geo News on Thursday that there has been no formal move to terminate any bilateral agreements with India. This clarification had followed Khawaja Asif’s remarks, which had sparked speculation over a possible shift in Pakistan’s long-standing policy on its treaties with India.