New Delhi: From 'Operation Cactus' of 1988 when India helped Maldives overcome a coup d'état to providing vaccines and medicines during the Covid pandemic, New Delhi has proven to be a “time-tested” partner of Malé, according to their Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.
In an interview to ABP Live, the Maldivian minister said India will always remain their “best friend” and that the ‘India Out’ campaign back in Maldives is the “dying call of a dictatorship”.
“Maldives is the heart of the Indian Ocean ... For us, it is essential that there's peace, prosperity and stability in the Indian Ocean. If there is conflict in the Indian Ocean, if there is instability in the Indian Ocean, then Maldives is going to suffer the most. We are the smallest and that is why we have such excellent relationships with all our neighbours, especially with India,” Shahid told ABP Live during his recent visit to India.
He said Maldives has seen India coming to its assistance in “every emergency” of theirs even as New Delhi has been involved in creating large-scale infrastructure projects in the island nation.
“We have seen India coming to our assistance in every emergency that we have had (be it 1988, be it 2004 tsunami, be it the 2015 water crisis in Male city, be it the Covid pandemic). This is a time-tested relationship,” he said.
Immediately after current President Ibrahim Solih came to power in 2018, Maldives became a member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) even as the then new government there came to power on the promise of ‘India First’ policy.
“We need the IORA to be alive and functioning … We take the role very seriously,” Shahid said.
Maldives is also part of the trilateral dialogue by the National Security Advisor that includes Sri Lanka. The trilateral arrangement will now soon be joined by Bangladesh and Mauritius. It last met in March 2022. The dialogue was revived in 2020 after a gap of six years. It was earlier called the Trilateral for Maritime Security Cooperation.
“When it comes to security, we started the NSA talks, it is heartening to see Mauritius and BD joining in and then it is clear for the Indian Ocean to be peaceful, stable and prosperous, we need more countries to join,” said Shahid.
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Maldives Headed For Presidential Polls
This year, Maldives is heading for presidential polls in September and President Ibrahim Solih is running for a second term. So far, he is the only candidate running for the post as his opponent and former president Abdulla Yameen is in prison on charges of corruption and money-laundering. However, Yameen’s party members continue to stage protests there, including against India, and create disruptions.
Solih is also facing opposition internally within the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) from ex-president and parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed.
“Any selection is a challenge but given the good work President Solih has done in the past four years, specially development of infrastructure and projects that are directly the lives of so many, I think this election President Solih is going to win easily. We are already seeing coalition partners coming behind President Solih. They are doing so because they also can see the good work that has been done,” Shahid said.
While Maldives had been witnessing internal political turmoil for some months now, the opposition has ratcheted up allegations of India’s interference in the country’s national security with the presence of the Indian military there and carried out a nationwide ‘India Out’ campaign there.
“The 'India Out' campaign is the dying call of a dictatorship. They (Yameen’s party members) have not been able to come up with any solid policies for the people of Maldives and that is why they are continuing to promote hatred against our largest neighbour and against our best friend and that is all they have. They spread fear and hate, but the people of Maldives are much wiser. This is a group of amateurs who are trying to be amateurish fomenting such hatred is not good anywhere,” Shahid clarified.
President Solih last visited India in August 2022 where both sides vowed to deepen defence and security ties. He sought more help from India in curbing the threat of transnational crime, terrorism, and drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean.
On the issue of former president Nasheed, Shahid said while it was “unfortunate” such incidents can take place in a democracy. Nasheed and Solih got engaged in a public spat of sorts last year when the former's younger brother Ahmed Nazim got arrested over homosexuality charges.
“Our party is the first established democratic party in the country. We are proud of our internal democracy. So we have party primaries. We have in the past had instances where the defeated candidates didn't necessarily back the candidate who won in Parliamentary elections or council elections. It's unfortunate that we are witnessing it at the highest-level in the party,” he said.
Shahid added: “These are challenges that we will have to face. There are instances in democracies where parties sometimes have internal factions. You would recall in the US the Tea Party came in and disrupted the party a little bit, nevertheless the party maintained itself and we saw it go ahead and win elections ... Since we are a full-fledged democracy.”