India will no longer tolerate “cross-border terrorism” and will respond to any future attacks, a senior Indian parliamentarian said, as a fragile ceasefire between his country and Pakistan continues to hold.
The warning follows a terrorist attack last month in the Pahalgam area of Indian-administered Kashmir, where gunmen killed 26 civilians, including 25 Indians. India accused Pakistan of being behind the assault. Islamabad denies the claim.
“This cannot happen again and again. Everyone has a threshold, and this is ours,” Shrikant Shinde, an MP for India's Shiv Sena party, told The National. “This is the new normal: if they hit us, we will hit back. And we did, with restraint. Operation Sindoor was a measured response. We targeted only the camps of terrorist organisations.”
Mr Shinde this week led an eight-member delegation to the UAE as part of a diplomatic push to highlight India’s stance against cross-border attacks. It is one of seven all-party delegations dispatched to 32 countries to deliver the message.
This month, India launched Operation Sindoor in response to the Pahalgam attack. The military response included missile strikes on what India said were nine militant camps in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani officials said the strikes killed 31 civilians.
India and Pakistan fought for four days before a ceasefire was reached on May 10. The truce was announced by US President Donald Trump in a social media post and later confirmed by New Delhi and Islamabad, though each gave different accounts of how it was reached.
While Mr Trump asserted a key US role in brokering the deal, Pakistan credited the involvement of several governments. India, in line with its long-standing policy of viewing the Kashmir dispute as a bilateral issue, downplayed any third-party role.
“The ceasefire was a mutual agreement between India and Pakistan,” said Mr Shinde. “There’s an established mechanism and a hotline between the two countries. Pakistan contacted us and requested the ceasefire, and we responded positively.”
Both nations historically blame each other for initiating hostilities, while insisting their own actions are retaliatory.
Kashmir, claimed in full by India and Pakistan, remains the most contentious issue between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. They have fought two of their three wars over the region, and tensions have shaped their relationship through decades of conflict and suspicion.
‘Ball in their court’
While India and Pakistan have each claimed victory, some experts fear that a return to hostilities is almost inevitable. In a speech last week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi insisted that the military offensive against Pakistani terrorist groups was ongoing and described the ceasefire as merely a pause.
“Pakistan has to make the choice now. The ball is in their court,” said Mr Shinde.
The UAE was the first stop on Mr Shinde’s four-nation diplomatic tour, which also includes Liberia, the Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.
During the visit, the delegation met with several UAE officials, including Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence.
The Emirates played a quiet role in helping de-escalate tensions after the Pahalgam attack. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, called for restraint and engaged repeatedly with both sides to prevent further military escalation.
“The UAE has a zero-tolerance policy on terrorism,” said Mr Shinde. “We are here to reinforce the fact that we all speak the same language when it comes to terrorism.”
India and the UAE share deep-rooted ties based on trade, cultural exchange and a large Indian diaspora.
Over the years, the bilateral ties between Abu Dhabi and New Delhi have evolved into a strategic partnership, with co-operation spanning energy, security and investment.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which entered into force in 2022, has accelerated trade and investment flows. Mr Modi has visited the UAE seven times over the past decade.
“We are building major infrastructure − hospitals, roads − and attracting investment, including from the UAE, in Kashmir,” stated Mr Shinde. “This has created jobs and fuelled a tourism boom. Last year, we had 25 million visitors to Kashmir, and the economy has significantly improved.”
The MP believes the attack in Pahalgam was aimed at disrupting this progress.
“This is peak tourist season. Maybe the terrorists don’t like that Kashmir is thriving,” he said. “But what’s different now is that the people of Kashmir took to the streets to condemn the attack. The mood has changed.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Zidane's managerial achievements
La Liga: 2016/17
Spanish Super Cup: 2017
Uefa Champions League: 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
Uefa Super Cup: 2016, 2017
Fifa Club World Cup: 2016, 2017
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History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
