UAE’s mediatory role bridges Indo-Pak gap

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) helped broker a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, seen as a great opportunity to open a more serious, sustained Indo-Pak dialogue.

In a rare joint press release on February 24, the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMO’s) of India and Pakistan said that the two sides had agreed to observe a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC). The two armies exchanged heavy artillery fire in recent months that led to casualties on both sides.

“Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control and all other sectors with effect from midnight of February 24/25,” said the joint statement.

The sudden one-day visit of the UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Delhi on February 26, the day after the agreement, was in the context of taking the thaw forward.

According to a Bloomberg report, not only the UAE was among the first two countries that welcomed the ceasefire agreement (the other being the United States), but it was the UAE that had hosted Indian and Pakistan officials to negotiate secretly before the announcement of the ceasefire agreement.

Roughly two weeks before the February 25 announcement, the UAE foreign minister held a phone call with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan “wherein they discussed regional and international issues of interest.” 

Whether India and Pakistan will publicly acknowledge the UAE’s mediatory role remains to be seen. But the development fits into a clear pattern seen in the UAE’s foreign policy over the recent years – an active global engagement through both its hard power and soft power.

Strategic experts have pointed out that since 2011, the year that marked the so-called Arab Spring, the UAE’s foreign policy has been “pro-Active” in three areas.

First, the country has been very particular in strengthening its military power to defend its model of governance marked by tolerance and religious toleration, so important for the UAE where more than 80 percent of the population are foreign workers and which wants to be the region’s the largest and one of the world’s best financial and industrial hubs in a “post-oil economy”.

Secondly, the promotion of “stability, moderation, and development” has been deeply reflected in the UAE’s overall strategic goals. Though the US remains its foremost strategic ally in pursuing these goals, the UAE has also courted other select Asian powers by concluding special “strategic partnership agreements” — China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.

Thirdly, the UAE clearly wants global recognition as major world power contributing towards global peace and stability. The UAE has been participating in international peacekeeping missions since the 1990s and it has joined the international coalition forces in the region.

In short, the UAE wants to be known as a responsible power playing global roles. In that sense, it wants to be unique in the Middle East. 

As Emma Soubrier, a visiting scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington says, “The UAE is cementing a national brand that had been in the making for a long time, simply taking it to the next level as a force to be reckoned with in the new Middle East.”