LoC Defined: What Is The Line of Management And How Did It Come Into Existence? | India Information
Tensions on the Line of Management (LoC) escalated on Thursday after the Pakistani Military fired at a number of factors in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Military responded firmly, and there have been no casualties, navy sources stated. The assault comes simply two days after a terror strike in Pahalgam that left 26 useless. India has in flip taken strong diplomatic actions — ejecting Pakistani navy attaches, suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, and shutting down the Attari land transit put up — citing cross-border connections to the Pahalgam assault.
What Is The LoC?
The Line of Management is the de facto navy line separating administered Jammu & Kashmir (together with Ladakh) and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). It was established after the 1972 Simla Settlement between India and Pakistan after the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971. The LoC isn’t an internationally accepted border however a ceasefire line mutually accepted by each international locations.
Historic Background: From Ceasefire Line To LoC
The LoC has its roots within the preliminary India-Pakistan conflict of 1947-48. Following the deployment of Indian troops to guard Kashmir from Pakistani-supported tribal raiders in October 1947, combating continued till a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations in January 1949.
The Karachi Settlement of July 1949 marked the Ceasefire Line (CFL) — the forerunner to the present LoC. It began from Manawar close to Akhnoor in Jammu and went north to Keran within the Kupwara district and east in the direction of the glacier space in Ladakh, terminating at level NJ9842. Past this, areas had been thought-about inaccessible and weren’t outlined.
Struggle And Reconfiguration in 1971
After Pakistan’s bloody crackdown in East Pakistan, India joined the conflict in December 1971, and a 13-day conflict broke out on each the jap and western fronts. The conflict resulted within the institution of Bangladesh and the seize of 93,000 Pakistani troopers.
Within the west, India moved into Pakistan-held Kashmir, taking management of strategic areas like Turtuk, which had been below Pakistani occupation in accordance with the 1949 CFL.
Later, Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto signed the Simla Settlement on July 2, 1972. The settlement made the ceasefire line the Line of Management (LoC) and pledged each international locations to honour the border with out altering it unilaterally.
Simla Settlement And Its Significance
Clause 4 of the Simla Settlement requires each events to:
1. Respect the LoC with out prejudice to their respective positions on the Kashmir query.
2. Desist from unilaterally modifying the LoC by pressure or different means.
3. Perform withdrawal of troops inside 30 days after the settlement’s enforcement.
The LoC thus stays a boundary by navy accord, not a world border, topic to an eventual settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
Pakistan Now Threatens Simla Settlement
In a dramatic flip of occasions, Pakistan’s Nationwide Safety Committee, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said that it might droop all bilateral agreements with India — together with the Simla Settlement — in place. The motion, if taken, would problem the very existence of the LoC, heightening already strained diplomatic and navy relations between the 2 nuclear-powered neighbours.
