flight planned route and nothing has changed to your routing - it has started creeping into UAE radar now
The book of rules that the UAE ACC operate under specifies that the route of every aircraft must be confirmed which means a full route clearance from FIR entrance to exit is a requirement. This is not a new thing. I am actually surprised at how often the flight plan does not match the intended route of the aircraft including some fairly major airlines. Unfortunately the route is often read back but not followed just as often. As an example, tracking after ORSAR cleared via PEBAT for DESDI, read back is as cleared for PEBAT and the aircraft turns for ITITA. While that may not sound like an issue, when there is any holding going on, the points are used as vertical insertion points for the pattern and the anus WILL pucker if a turn to ITITA occurs. This is mainly a problem with Russian Fed/Ex Soviet aircraft.
The requirement to identify aircraft from unit to unit is laid out quite clearly in ICAO documentation as well as any local differences in identification procedures. For example, the method of observing a coupled assigned code in an expected position is not a valid method of identification by UAE hence where we do not have agreements in place, you need to say your code. Again, this is nothing new. Not wanting to start a war, I would have though that airlines would train their staff on route specific requirements such as these and you would know exactly what each unit is going to want.