India on Thursday desisted from joining the launch of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Davos, keeping the US guessing till the eleventh hour after being invited to be part of the President’s mega plan on overseeing the ceasefire in Gaza and the reconstruction of the war-ravaged zone.
Even after Trump launched the board at the World Economic Forum, New Delhi remained mum on the subject.
Nineteen countries, including Pakistan, turned up for the launch of the Board of Peace amid apprehensions that the US President could use it to create an alternative to the United Nations that he has often railed against.
Compared to the Gaza Peace Summit in Egypt in which 30 countries participated just three months ago, the turnout was pretty thin.
The Narendra Modi government had sent a minister to Egypt in October for the peace meet but steered clear of the Board of Peace on Thursday.
At the Davos event, Trump once again made the claim that he had stopped a war between India and Pakistan.
For the past four days — ever since US ambassador to India Sergio Gor posted a page from Trump’s invitation to Prime Minister Modi on Sunday night — the external affairs ministry has avoided responding to queries about the invite or disclosing what New Delhi thinks of the initiative.
As of now, it is not even clear whether India has responded through official channels to Trump’s letter, the silence putting a fresh strain on the bilateral relationship.
For India, there are several areas of concern. To begin with, the charter of the Board of Peace, sent along with the invitation, makes no mention of Gaza, and its mission statement indicates that it seeks a wider mandate beyond the Palestinian territory.
“The Board of Peace is an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” the charter says.
The preamble, which talks of having “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed”, is being seen as an oblique reference to the United Nations. Further, given the heavy hand with which Trump deals with the world, foreign policy experts see it as yet another attempt by him to be an overlord.
“Trump will control the Board of Peace and will have the last word on all matters. All others will be subordinated to him and his decisions. Trump’s objective is to bypass the UN in peace-making and take personal credit for solving conflicts,” former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said in a post on X earlier this week.
“Trump has publicly said he does not believe in constraints of international law. In Venezuela, he has shown this. Greenland is the next case…. The philosophy of the board violates the UN Charter. All this is apart from business and financial aspects that also involve Trump’s family. These are all the reasons why India should politely stay away from this board.”
