The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line that serves as the de facto border separating the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a concept and a political-military arrangement, not a legally recognized international boundary. The LoC was formally established as part of the Simla Agreement, a bilateral peace treaty signed by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on July 2, 1972, in Shimla.
The LoC was created to solve the problem of the undefined border following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It replaced the original Ceasefire Line (CFL), which had been established by the Karachi Agreement in 1949 after the first Indo-Pak war. India sought this terminological change to deny the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) any future role in monitoring the line.
The key mechanism of the LoC is outlined in Clause IV (ii) of the Simla Agreement, which stipulates that the line of control resulting from the ceasefire of December 17, 1971, shall be respected by both sides. This provision requires that "neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally, irrespective of mutual differences and legal interpretations". The LoC is approximately 740 km long and is heavily militarized, with India having constructed a 550 km barrier along it to counter infiltration.
The LoC connects directly to the Simla Agreement of 1972, which also committed both nations to resolve all disputes bilaterally, excluding third-party mediation. Another related concept is the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which is the informal separation between India and China in the eastern sector of the former princely state. The status of the LoC has not been formally changed or replaced, but the line has been a site of recurrent crises, including the Kargil War in 1999. A significant recent development was the November 2003 ceasefire agreement, which allowed India to resume and complete the construction of the LoC fence in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region by late 2004.