 "History Today: When India and Pakistan signed the historic Simla Agreement")
On July 2, 1972, India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement following the 1971 war, which ended with Pakistan’s defeat and the formation of Bangladesh.
The agreement was signed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Also on this day in 1964, former US President Lyndon B Johnson signed into law a historic civil rights bill. Passed by Congress, it banned discrimination and segregation based on race, colour, sex, religion or national origin.
Further, on this day in 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan went missing over the Pacific Ocean while trying to complete the first flight around the world along the equator.
As part of Firstpost Explainers’ History Today series, here’s a look at what happened on July 2:
Simla Agreement was signed
A peace agreement between India and Pakistan was signed on this day in 1972, soon after the 1971 India-Pakistan War came to an end.
The war concluded with Pakistan’s defeat and the formation of Bangladesh.
The Simla Agreement , signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was meant to improve relations, set up a way to settle disputes directly, and avoid future wars.
As part of the Simla Agreement, both countries agreed to live peacefully, respect each other’s independence and borders, and not interfere in each other’s internal matters.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe agreement also defined the Line of Control in Kashmir, which both sides agreed not to change on their own.
Along with the earlier Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the Simla Agreement became an important part of how the two countries managed tensions, talked through issues, and avoided major conflict, although smaller clashes and diplomatic arguments continued to happen.
On April 22, 2025, a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, killed 26 people. The next day, India accused Pakistan of backing terrorists and said it would pause the Indus Waters Treaty. In response, Pakistan said it would also put the Simla Agreement on hold.
Civil Rights Act was signed
On this day in 1964, the Civil Rights Act, a major US law to stop unfair treatment based on race, colour, religion or national origin, was signed by President Lyndon B Johnson after it was passed by Congress.
Title I of the act ensures equal voting rights. Title II bans segregation and unfair treatment in public places involved in interstate business. Title VII prevents trade unions, schools or employers linked to interstate business or the federal government from discriminating.
The Civil Rights Act led to a huge controversy in the United States as soon as President John F Kennedy proposed it in 1963.
Kennedy could not get the law passed, but a stronger version was later approved after President Lyndon B Johnson pushed for it.
He signed it into law after one of the longest Senate debates in history.
The act gave federal officers the authority to act against racial discrimination in jobs, voting, and access to public places.
The strange disappearance of Amelia Earhart
On July 2, 1937, American aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Frederick Noonan, went missing near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.
They were flying a Lockheed aircraft.
The two were trying to fly around the world and were on one of the most difficult parts of their journey: from Lae in New Guinea to Howland Island, a small spot in the middle of the Pacific, about 2,227 nautical miles away.
Earhart sent a message saying she had “one-half hour fuel and no landfall,” and later tried to share her position. After that, all contact stopped.
It is believed she may have tried to land the plane on the water.
If that landing had gone smoothly, it is possible that both Earhart and Noonan escaped the aircraft with a life raft and survival gear before it sank.
The US Coast Guard and Navy carried out a massive search in the area, but they found no sign of the plane or the two on board.
This Day, That Year
1881: US President James A Garfield was shot by Charles J Guiteau at a railway station in Washington. He died a few months later, in September.
1990: A stampede inside a tunnel near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, killed more than 1,400 Muslim pilgrims.
2002: American explorer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
2018: In Thailand, rescue divers found 12 boys and their football coach more than a week after they got trapped in a cave by rising water.
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