Secret India-Pakistan Peace Card Marketed by Top UAE Royals

Photographer: Aamir Qureshi / AFP / Getty Images

About 24 hours after military leaders from India and Pakistan surprised the world last month with a rare joint commitment to honor a 2003 ceasefire agreement, the top diplomat from the United Arab Emirates moved to New Delhi for a quick visit of one day.

The official UAE The reading of the February 26 meeting provided little clue as to what Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed had to say to Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, pointing out that they ” discuss all local and international issues of common interest and exchange views on it ”.

Yet the shutdown of India and Pakistan behind closed doors has marked a milestone in secret talks negotiated by the United Arab Emirates, which began months earlier, according to officials aware of the situation asking not to be identified. The ceasefire, one said, is only the beginning of a larger road map to bring about a lasting peace between the neighbors, who both have nuclear weapons and regularly struggle over a decades-old territorial dispute.

The official says the next step in the process involves re-establishing embassies in New Delhi and Islamabad, which was drawn in 2019 after Pakistan protested against India over the seven decades of autonomy for the disputed Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. to revoke. Then comes the difficult part: talks on resuming trade and a lasting resolution on Kashmir, the subject of three wars since India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in 1947.

Over the years, India and Pakistan have regularly made peace agreements to make it fall through quickly, especially since both parties regularly use the issue to arouse emotions around election time. Officials said expectations were low that the current tents would go far beyond the return of envoys and the resumption of trade across their land border in Punjab.

But this process appears to be the most joint effort in years, and it comes as the Biden administration seeks wider peace talks on Afghanistan – a place where both countries have struggled for years for influence. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to boost growth and focus military resources on the border with China, while Pakistan’s leaders also face economic woes and make a good impression on the US and other powers.

The Foreign Ministry in Pakistan did not comment on the talks or the role of the UAE, while the foreign ministries of India and the UAE did not comment immediately.

Last week, Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Staff of Pakistan asked India “to bury the past and move forward”, saying the army is ready to hold talks to resolve “all our outstanding issues”. The comments come a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan called for Kashmir, which he described as “the one problem holding us back.”

On Saturday, Modi sent a tweet in which Khan is wished strength after being diagnosed with Covid-19 – another sign that relations between the countries are getting warmer.

The UAE, which has historical trade and diplomatic ties with India and Pakistan, has played a more assertive international role under de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The biggest shift took place in the Middle East where the Arab Gulf state intervened in conflict and supported groups and regional leaders. But it also looked to Asia as it strengthened political alliances beyond its role as a global trade and logistics hub.

Ties between India and Pakistan were effectively severed two years ago after a suicide attack in India-controlled Kashmir killed 40 Indian soldiers, prompting Modi’s government to authorize airstrikes on suspected terrorist facilities in Pakistan. The said in a joint statement last month that the two parties had ‘agreed to address each other’s core issues’, indicating a wider discussion on Kashmir and terrorism.

Several clues over the past few months have pointed to the role of the UAE. In November, Jaishankar bin Zayed and the Crown Prince met on a two-day visit to Abu Dhabi, followed by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi the following month. About two weeks before the announcement of February 25, the UAE Foreign Minister announced held a telephone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan “in which they discussed local and international issues.” And a few days earlier, India had allowed Khan’s planes to fly over Indian airspace on its way to Sri Lanka for a state visit – a practice that has been suspended since hostilities in 2019.

After the halt, the UAE was one of a handful of countries that statement welcomed the ceasefire announcement, emphasizing the ‘close historical ties’ it has with both India and Pakistan and ‘the efforts of both countries to reach this agreement,’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price , in Washington evaded a question about what role the US played in bringing the two parties together while urging Pakistan to play a constructive role in Afghanistan, Kashmir and elsewhere.

“It is clear that Pakistan needs to play an important role when it comes to Afghanistan and what is happening across its other border,” Price said on February 25. “It is clear that we will pay close attention.”

– With the help of Sylvia Westall and Faseeh Mangi