Tashkent Declaration
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The Tashkent Declaration of January 10, 1966 was a peace agreement between India and Pakistan. In September of 1965 before the two had engaged in the short run Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Peace had been achieved on September 23 by the intervention of the great powers who pushed the two nations to a cease fire for fears the conflict could escalate and draw in other powers.
A meeting was held in Tashkent in the USSR (now in Uzbekistan) beginning on January 4, 1966 to try to create a more permanent settlement. The Soviets, represented by Premier Kosygin moderated between Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan.
The conference was viewed as a great success and the declaration that was released was hoped to be a framework for lasting peace. The declaration stated that
- Indian and Pakistani forces would pull back to their pre-conflict positions
- The nations would not interfere in each other's internal affairs
- Economic and diplomatic relations would be restored
- The two leaders would work towards building good relations between the two countries.
Quickly after the signing of the agreement things began to deteriorate. The day after the declaration Indian Prime Minister Shastri died of a sudden heart attack. In Pakistan many civilians felt that they had won the war and were disappointed at the return to the status quo ante bellum. The agreement was criticized in India because it did not contain a no-war pact or any renunciation of guerrilla warfare in Kashmir. The two countries would again be at war in only a few years time.
