US President Donald Trump has managed to get 11 countries to join his “Board of Peace”, a body initially designed to oversee the Gaza ceasefire and the reconstruction of the strip ravaged by the war between Hamas and Israel. India and no permanent member of the UN Security Council – other than the US itself – have joined the self-styled board yet.
Apart from the US, no member of the G7 grouping has joined Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’, whose purpose expanded into resolving all sorts of international conflicts, raising questions over Trump’s aspirations of creating a rival to the UN.
What we know about India’s absence
India was among some 60 countries that received invitations last week from Trump to join the Board of Peace, an earlier HT report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.
They acknowledged that no Indian officials were present at the ceremony in the Swiss mountain resort.
The Indian side is yet to make a decision on joining the board, they said.
While the Indian side keeping an eye on the positions taken by key partners – including France and Russia – there were concerns about the Board of Peace ultimately undermining the United Nations (UN) and Trump remaining as chairman of the body in perpetuity, the people said.
As Trump presided over a signing ceremony for the board on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland’s Davos, he took credit in purportedly ending eight wars in nine months, including the military conflict between India and Pakistan last May.
With Pakistan among 19 countries that joined the ceremony, Trump said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had praised him for saving millions of lives.
No mention of Gaza in Trump’s Board of Peace
There reportedly is no mention of Gaza in Board’s official charter, which instead carries a sweeping mandate that could challenge or undermine existing international frameworks and institutions working for conflict resolution and global governance.
The charter states the board will promote stability and secure enduring peace in areas affected by conflict, and Trump himself alluded that the body could take on other global crises after its work in Gaza.
“I think we can spread out to other things as we succeed with Gaza… We can do numerous other things. Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do,” Trump said.
Even though Trump said that the Board of Peace could work in conjunction with the UN, he made it clear that the world body had no role in the eight wars he had “stopped”, including the India-Pakistan conflict.
“We’re very happy to stop the war that had started with India and Pakistan, two nuclear nations, and I was very honoured when the prime minister of Pakistan said President Trump saved 10 and maybe 20 million lives by getting that stopped just before bad things were going to happen,” he said.
Listen in
India has maintained that the conflict ended after four days when Indian and Pakistani military officials reached an understanding, rejecting Trump’s claims of ending the hostilities.
The documents for launching the board were signed by the heads of state or government of 11 countries — Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, and Uzbekistan — and senior officials of eight nations — Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE and Mongolia.
(With inputs from Rezaul H Laskar)
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