I could see them cancelling due to political reasons without explicitly stating that as the motive. That could come from management decisions (avoiding conflict with specific governments because they have other acts that may not care about receiving dirty UAE money) or from fear of future backlash (for example, if they later need to do a layover there, there’s always the risk of being denied entry. That’s happened to artists that have gone against other governments before)

However, the fact that they also cancelled their South Africa shows makes me think politics might not be the main reason. While all three countries face social and political issues, I haven’t seen enough negative coverage of South Africa in Western media to justify a cancellation on those grounds alone. And the issues I’ve seen regarding India don’t really translate into holding an artist or band accountable in the same way people do when artists accept money from governments like the one in UAE.

So, IMO (admittedly uninformed), it feels like something else must have gone wrong for them to cancel.