Line of Control (LoC)
Legal Status Under the Shimla Agreement, 1972
The LoC is the military control line separating Indian- and Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir. It originated as the 1949 Karachi Agreement ceasefire line and was renamed and re-demarcated as the "Line of Control" under the Shimla Agreement signed on 2 July 1972 between India and Pakistan after the 1971 war. Critically, the LoC is not a legally recognised international border — it is a bilaterally agreed line of military control that both sides pledged not to alter unilaterally.
- Shimla Agreement, 1972 — both countries agreed to respect the LoC "without prejudice to the recognised position of either side" and to refrain from the threat or use of force to alter it unilaterally
- Distinguishes LoC from the International Border (IB) (the settled boundary, e.g., in Jammu region) and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, which is not a mutually delineated or demarcated line at all
- The LoC runs roughly 740 km from the Siachen Glacier to the international boundary near Jammu; it is guarded by the Indian Army, unlike the IB, which is guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF)
- Any territorial claim over Jammu and Kashmir under India's stated position (post-1994 Parliamentary resolution) covers the entire erstwhile princely state, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)
● Tracked since February 28, 2026 · last seen August 29, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
See it in today’s brief.
Daily current affairs with every static concept explained in place.
Read the daily brief