Secret India-Pakistan peace roadmap brokered by high UAE royals: Report

About 24 hours after navy chiefs from India and Pakistan shocked the world final month with a uncommon joint dedication to respect a 2003 cease-fire settlement, the highest diplomat of the United Arab Emirates popped over to New Delhi for a fast one-day go to.The official UAE readout of the Feb. 26 assembly gave few clues of what Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed spoke about with Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, noting they “discussed all regional and international issues of common interest and exchanged views on them.”
Yet behind closed doorways, the India-Pakistan cease-fire marked a milestone in secret talks brokered by the UAE that started months earlier, in accordance with officers conscious of the scenario who requested to not be recognized. The ceasefire, one mentioned, is barely the start of a bigger roadmap to forge an enduring peace between the neighbors, each of which have nuclear weapons and spar commonly over a decades-old territory dispute.
The subsequent step within the course of, the official mentioned, entails either side reinstating envoys in New Delhi and Islamabad, who have been pulled in 2019 after Pakistan protested India’s transfer to revoke seven many years of autonomy for the disputed Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. Then comes the laborious half: Talks on resuming commerce and an enduring decision on Kashmir, the topic of three wars since India and Pakistan grew to become impartial from Britain in 1947.
Over the years, India and Pakistan have routinely made peace overtures solely to have them rapidly fall via, notably as either side steadily use the difficulty to fire up feelings round election time. Officials mentioned expectations have been low that the present detente would obtain a lot past the return of envoys and a resumption of commerce via their Punjab land border.

But this course of seems to be essentially the most concerted effort in years, and comes because the Biden administration is looking for wider peace talks on Afghanistan — a spot each international locations for years have battled for affect. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi desires to shore up development and focus navy assets on the border with China, whereas Pakistan’s leaders are additionally going through financial woes and trying to make a superb impression with the U.S. and different powers.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry didn’t touch upon the talks or the position of the UAE, whereas the overseas ministries of India and the UAE had no fast remark.
Last week Pakistan military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa requested India “to bury the past and move forward” whereas saying the navy was able to enter talks to resolve “all our outstanding issues.” The feedback got here a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan after referred to as for a decision on Kashmir, which he described as “the one issue that holds us back.”
On Saturday, Modi despatched a tweet wishing Khan properly after he was identified with Covid-19 — one other signal that relations between the international locations are getting hotter.
The UAE, which has historic commerce and diplomatic hyperlinks with India and Pakistan, has taken a extra assertive worldwide position beneath de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The greatest shift has been within the Middle East the place the Gulf Arab state has intervened in conflicts and backed teams and regional leaders. But it has additionally seemed to Asia because it strengthens political alliances past its position as a worldwide commerce and logistics hub.
India-Pakistan ties have been successfully minimize off two years in the past after a suicide assault in India-controlled Kashmir killed 40 Indian troopers, prompting Modi’s authorities to authorize air strikes on alleged terror services inside Pakistan. The joint assertion final month mentioned the 2 sides “agreed to address each other’s core issues,” signaling a wider dialogue on Kashmir and terrorism.
Several clues over the previous few months pointed on the UAE’s position. In November, Jaishankar met bin Zayed and the crown prince on a two-day go to to Abu Dhabi, adopted by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi the next month. Roughly two weeks earlier than the Feb. 25 announcement, the UAE overseas minister held a cellphone name with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan “wherein they discussed regional and international issues of interest.” And simply days earlier than, India allowed Khan’s plane to fly over Indian airspace as he headed to Sri Lanka for a state go to — a apply suspended because the 2019 hostilities.

After the cease-fire, the UAE was one in all a handful of nations to challenge an announcement welcoming the cease-fire announcement, highlighting the “close historical ties” it has with each India and Pakistan and hailing “the efforts made by both countries to come to this agreement.” In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price dodged a query on what position the U.S. performed in bringing the 2 sides collectively whereas urging Pakistan to play a constructive position in Afghanistan, Kashmir and different locations.
“Obviously Pakistan has an important role to play when it comes to Afghanistan and what takes place across its other border,” Price mentioned on Feb. 25. “So clearly, we will be paying close attention.”