Tashkent Declaration

10 January 1966 · Tashkent (USSR, now Uzbekistan)

Pakistan & South Asia

Background

The 1965 war ended with a UN-backed ceasefire on 23 September. At Tashkent the two leaders agreed to withdraw forces to the positions held before 5 August 1965, restore diplomatic relations and avoid force. Many Pakistanis felt it gave away gains on the battlefield; Bhutto, then foreign minister, broke with Ayub and founded the Pakistan Peoples Party in 1967.

Signed by

Pakistan (Ayub Khan) and India (Lal Bahadur Shastri), mediated by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin

Why it matters

Ended the 1965 war: both sides withdrew to pre-war positions. Shastri died in Tashkent the next day; the deal was unpopular in Pakistan and Bhutto left Ayub's government soon after.