Arrange the following agreements between India and Pakistan in chronological order : 1. Tashkent Declaration 2. Indus Water Treaty 3. Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Each Other's Nuclear Installations and Facilities 4. Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons Select the answer using the code given below :
- (a)1, 2, 3, 4
- (b)2, 3, 1, 4
- (c)2, 1, 3, 4
- (d)1, 4, 2, 3
Correct — C, 2, 1, 3, 4. Put dates to the four and the sequence falls out. The Indus Waters Treaty was signed at Karachi on 19 September 1960 by Jawaharlal Nehru and Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, with the World Bank as a third signatory in a limited procedural role, and it takes effect retrospectively from 1 April 1960. The Tashkent Declaration was signed on 10 January 1966 by Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ayub Khan after the 1965 war, under Soviet mediation. The Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Each Other's Nuclear Installations and Facilities was signed on 31 December 1988 and entered into force in January 1991; under it the two countries exchange lists of their nuclear installations every 1 January, and have done so without interruption since 1992. The Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons was signed on 21 February 2007 and has been extended in five-year terms since. So water first, then the post-war declaration, then the two nuclear agreements in that order — 2, 1, 3, 4.
- (a)1, 2, 3, 4 — Puts Tashkent before the Indus Waters Treaty. The treaty is 1960 and the declaration 1966, so this order is wrong at its very first step.
- (b)2, 3, 1, 4 — Places the nuclear-installations agreement of 1988 ahead of the Tashkent Declaration of 1966, a gap of twenty-two years in the wrong direction.
- (d)1, 4, 2, 3 — Opens with Tashkent and then jumps to the 2007 accidents agreement before the 1960 treaty — the sequence is scrambled at both ends.
The India-Pakistan agreements fall into two families. The first concerns shared resources and the settlement of wars — the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the Tashkent Declaration of 1966 and the Simla Agreement of 1972. The second is a set of nuclear and military confidence-building measures negotiated after both states became nuclear-capable: the non-attack agreement on nuclear installations of 1988, the 1991 agreements on advance notice of military exercises and on airspace violations, the Lahore Memorandum of Understanding of 1999, the 2005 agreement on pre-notification of ballistic missile flight tests and the 2007 accidents agreement.
Chronology items are won by anchoring to one certain date and working outward. The Indus Waters Treaty at 1960 is the safest anchor here, and it alone eliminates options (a) and (d). The remaining choice is whether Tashkent or the nuclear-installations agreement comes first, and Tashkent belongs to the aftermath of the 1965 war while the nuclear agreements belong to the era after 1987, so 1 precedes 3. Present-day line worth carrying: the Indus Waters Treaty was held in abeyance by India in April 2025 following the Pahalgam attack, while the annual 1 January exchange of nuclear-installation lists under the 1988 agreement has continued.
- The Indus Waters Treaty was signed at Karachi on 19 September 1960 and is effective retrospectively from 1 April 1960; the eastern rivers are the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi, and the western rivers the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
- The Tashkent Declaration was signed on 10 January 1966 by Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ayub Khan, mediated by the Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin.
- The Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Each Other's Nuclear Installations and Facilities was signed on 31 December 1988 and entered into force in January 1991.
- Under that agreement India and Pakistan exchange lists of their nuclear installations on 1 January every year, a practice unbroken since 1992.
- The Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons was signed on 21 February 2007 and has been renewed in five-year terms.
- 19 September 1960 — Indus Waters Treaty signed at Karachi, with the World Bank as a signatory in a limited role
- 10 January 1966 — Tashkent Declaration, after the 1965 war, under Soviet mediation
- 31 December 1988 — Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Each Other's Nuclear Installations and Facilities
- 21 February 2007 — Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons
Water, then the settlement of a war, then two nuclear confidence-building measures: 2, 1, 3, 4.
- Assuming the nuclear agreements must post-date the 1998 tests; the non-attack agreement is from 1988, a decade earlier.
- Dating the Indus Waters Treaty to the year of a war; it was negotiated over nine years and signed in peacetime, in 1960.
- Confusing the 1988 non-attack agreement with the 2005 pre-notification agreement on ballistic missile flight tests.
As a chronological ordering item over India-Pakistan agreements, or as a single-fact question on the year and signatories of one of them.
CDS_GK_2025_I_Q892025Which of the following statements about the Indus Waters Treaty is/are correct? 1. The term ‘Eastern Rivers’ means the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi taken together. 2. The term ‘Western Rivers’ means the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab taken together. Select the answer using the code given below:
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(c) Both 1 and 2
One of the four agreements in this chronology, opened up in the following year's paper. The definitions it tests come straight from Article I of the treaty, and they are the substance behind the entry that sits first in this sequence.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Tashkent Declaration of 1966 was signed between India and Pakistan under the mediation of which one of the following countries?
- (a)United States of America
- (b)Soviet Union
- (c)United Kingdom
- (d)Egypt
Answer(b) Soviet Union — the declaration was signed at Tashkent on 10 January 1966 with Premier Alexei Kosygin mediating.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the India-Pakistan Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Each Other's Nuclear Installations and Facilities, the two countries exchange lists of their nuclear installations
- (a)once every year, on 1 January
- (b)once every five years
- (c)only when either side requests it
- (d)twice a year, in January and July
Answer(a) once every year, on 1 January — an exchange that has continued without a break since 1992.