Pak flag missing from Himachal Raj Bhavan's table on which Simla Accord was signed

The wooden table on which the agreement was signed is kept in the Kirti Hall of the Himachal Pradesh Raj Bhavan on an elevated red-coloured platform cordoned off with brass railings.

There is a placard too - "Simla Agreement was signed here on 3-7-1972" 

(July 3, 1972) 

Pak flag missing from Himachal Raj Bhavan's table on which Simla Accord was signed

A day after Pakistan suspended the Simla Agreement of 1972 in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Pakistani flag on the historic table at the Raj Bhavan in Shimla, on which the pact was signed, went missing.

old snap - taken in 2001

Raj Bhavan officials confirmed that the Pakistani flag "was not on the table".

But there is no confirmation on how and when the Pakistani flag was removed.

The Pakistani flag on the historic table at the Raj Bhavan in Shimla, on which the Simla Agreement was signed, went missing on Friday, news agency PTI reported. 

This came a day after Islamabad suspended the 1972 accord as ties with India nosedived following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.

Pakistan's move to suspend the Simla Agreement was in response to the retaliatory actions taken by India in the aftermath of the massacre of 25 Indians and a Nepali national in the terror attack in Pahalgam on Tuesday, according to 'India Today'.  

The pact was signed by the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and then-Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on the intervening nights of July 2 and 3.

Raj Bhavan officials confirmed that the Pakistani flag "was not on the table", yet it is learnt that there is no confirmation on how and when the Pakistani flag was removed. 

India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, a key water-sharing agreement with Pakistan.

India's western neghbour has paused the 1972 Simla Agreement, a peace treaty signed following the 1971 war between both countries.

 A photograph of Bhutto signing the agreement and Indira Gandhi sitting beside him is still kept on the table, while several other photographs of the India-Pakistan Summit of 1972 hang on the wall in the background.

Tuesday's carnage, which occurred in the Baisaran meadow - which is accessible only on foot or horseback - was the worst ever terror attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir since the assault on CRPF personnel in Pulwama in 2019.

The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack.

India and Pakistan announced major diplomatic measures and downgraded their already strained ties, including the closure of the Attari-Wagah border, the expulsion of their respective attaches from the High Commissions and revoking visas of their nationals.

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