UAE Royals behind recent India-Pakistan peace roadmap: report

THE joint commitment by India and Pakistan last month to respect a 2003 cease-fire agreement was brokered by top United Arab Emirates (UAE) Royals, reported The Bloomberg.

The cease-fire statement marked a milestone in secret talks brokered by the UAE that began months earlier, and is only the beginning of a larger roadmap to forge a lasting peace between the neighbors, the report added.

Last month, UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed met Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and 'discussed issues of common interest', The Bloomberg report said. 

According to officials, the next step involves both sides reinstating envoys in New Delhi and Islamabad, who were pulled in 2019 after Pakistan protested India’s move to revoke seven decades of autonomy for the disputed Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Later, 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, may take place.

Officials said expectations were low that the current detente would achieve much beyond the return of envoys and a resumption of trade through their Punjab land border.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi wants to shore up growth and focus military resources on the border with China, while Pakistan’s leaders are also facing economic woes and looking to make a good impression with the US and other powers.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry didn’t comment on the talks or the role of the UAE, while the foreign ministries of India and the UAE had no immediate comment, The Bloomberg report added. 

Last week Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa asked India 'to bury the past and move forward'.

The comments came a day after prime minister Imran Khan after called for a resolution on Kashmir, which he described as 'the one issue that holds us back'.

On Saturday (20), Modi sent a tweet wishing Khan well after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 -- another sign that relations between the countries are getting warmer.

The UAE, which has historic trade and diplomatic links with India and Pakistan, has taken a more assertive international role under de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

India-Pakistan ties were effectively cut off two years ago after a suicide attack in India-controlled Kashmir killed 40 Indian soldiers, prompting Modi’s government to authorize air strikes on alleged terror facilities inside Pakistan.

According to The Bloomberg, Several clues over the past few months pointed at the UAE’s role in the peace process. In November, India's Jaishankar met bin Zayed and the crown prince on a two-day visit to Abu Dhabi, followed by Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi the following month.

Roughly two weeks before the February 25 announcement, the UAE foreign minister held a phone call with Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, it said.

Recently, India also allowed Khan’s aircraft to fly over Indian airspace as he headed to Sri Lanka for a state visit-a practice suspended since the 2019 hostilities.