India welcomes Pakistan brokered ceasefire, hopes it can lead to peace in Ukraine too | India News
The Pakistan-brokered temporary ceasefire – after six weeks of brutal war in the West Asia region – was welcomed by India in an official statement in which the government also expressed hope that the ceasefire would lead to a lasting peace in the region. Stressing that the conflict has already caused immense suffering to people and disrupted global energy supply and trade networks, the Indian government said it expected the continued freedom of navigation and global flow of trade through the Strait of Hormuz. “As we have consistently advocated before, de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy are essential to bring an early end to the ongoing conflict,” the MEA said in a carefully worded statement that focused more on the outcome than the means used to achieve it. Going a step further, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal expressed hope that developments in West Asia would spur peace efforts in Ukraine as well.“India has always been for peace. We welcome all steps towards peace and stability,” he said. There was no formal recognition of Pakistan’s key mediating role, which both President Donald Trump and Iran have credited for the breakthrough. However, government sources said India views the development, which includes Iran’s commitment to open the Strait of Hormuz during the 2-week ceasefire, as a potential catalyst for progress in talks for long-term peace in the region. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Islamabad will host talks between the US and Iran, starting on April 10. Apart from ensuring the safety and security of the 10-million-strong Indian diaspora in the Gulf region, India’s top priority in the past few weeks has been ensuring safe passage for its LPG tankers so that no supply is disrupted. India, however, will be wary of any negative impact on its own deteriorating relationship with Pakistan that a ceasefire could have from greater international legitimacy for Islamabad. India maintains that Pakistan is a source of global terrorism and refuses to engage with Islamism until it takes real and irreversible action against groups responsible for cross-border terrorism. After the cease-fire, Trump also hinted that China could play a role in peace talks, urging Tehran to engage with the United States. For India, however, despite its close ties with both sides and its position as an important stakeholder in the Gulf region, active mediation was not an option in line with its decades-old aversion to third-party mediation, particularly in relations with Islamabad where it has always emphasized bilateralism. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar touched on this in an all-party meeting last month where he said India, unlike Pakistan, does not have a history of acting as a go-between between countries. He noted Pakistan’s role in facilitating secret backchannel talks between the United States and China in 1971.
