Lahore Declaration - Background

Background

The Lahore Declaration was the first major political agreement between the two nations since the 1972 Shimla Agreement that formally established peaceful relations in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and committed both nations to resolving bilateral disputes by peaceful dialogue and co-operation. Bilateral relations were transformed and tensions heightened when India conducted the Pokhran-II — codename of nuclear tests on May 11 and May 13, 1998, establishing itself as a nuclear weapons power. Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests — Codename Chagai-I in Ros Koh area of Chagai Hills on May 28, and Chagai-II on May 30th, bringing the spectre of nuclear conflict to South Asia.

On September 23, 1998 both governments signed an agreement recognizing the principle of building an environment of peace and security and resolving all bilateral conflicts, which became the basis of the Lahore Declaration. On February 19, 1999 the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee embarked on a historic visit to Pakistan, travelling on the inaugural bus service connecting the Indian capital of New Delhi with the major Pakistani city of Lahore, establishing a major transport link for the peoples of both nations. The inaugural bus also carried Indian celebrities and dignitaries such as Dev Anand, Satish Gujral, Javed Akhtar, Kuldip Nayar, Kapil Dev, Shatrughan Sinha and Mallika Sarabhai. He was received amidst great fanfare and media attention at the Pakistani border post of Wagah by his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, with whom he had been at loggerheads a year before over the nuclear tests controversy. The summit was hailed worldwide as a major breakthrough and milestone in bilateral relations and a historic step towards ending conflict and tensions in the region.