He offers evidence of military involvement in the episode
The former Maldives President, Mohamed Nasheed, has said he received detailed warnings of an imminent coup from the country's military intelligence service weeks before he was ousted on February 6.
“I was given a seven-page letter by the General then in charge of military intelligence warning of a plot, to overthrow my government, by [the former dictator] Maumoon Abdul Gayoom,” he told The Hindu in an interview on Thursday. “However, the officer concerned was promptly replaced [by the Army].”
Mr. Nasheed is in New Delhi to press India to exert greater diplomatic pressure on the Maldives government to honour promises that it will hold early elections — amid growing signs by his successor to defer the process until at least 2013.
Last week, the Commonwealth's Ministerial Action Group on the Maldives said it “continued to be strongly of the view that the earliest possible expression of the will of the people was required to establish universal faith in the legitimacy of those who govern.”
Mr. Nasheed offered further evidence of military involvement in the coup and said he made requests for military assistance hours after the riot police attacked his supporters.
“When I went to the military's headquarters the next morning, it turned out everyone was on leave; there were only about 200 people there. The 200 people there were not willing to defend the elected government; the generals, bar two, were supportive of Mr. Gayoom.”
Mr. Gayoom, the long-running ruler, was forced out of office in 2008, after the country's first elections. He returned to the Maldives after the coup. His daughter is now Foreign Minister.
Mr. Nasheed said a small group of supporters in the Army suggested using firearms to disperse the rioting policemen, but he rejected the offer. “I knew this was going to end either with many deaths or with my being lynched,” he said. “So I agreed to resign.”
Keywords: Maldives crisis
I thought it was well within President Nasheed's means to make that
remark! It was a remark packed with messages, but not directed at an outdated cold war mindset. He appeared to suggest being principled about foreign policy, be it the US or India. In this instance, to give him the benefit of the doubt to his claims that he was ousted in a coup de'tat instigated by the previous 30 year old Gayyoom
dictatorship. I guess he was not interested in being told what one thought was dependent on what the other thought! There is no room for childishness when the future of one's own country is at stake. Well, both the US and India did finally comply like good big brothers!
Interesting that Mr. Nasheed wants India's help now. He was in US last month and said US should help him and no involve India in the process. I think his exact words on Jon Stewart's show were "Don't outsource your (US) foreign policy to India". I guess nobody paid any attention to him in US so now he wants India's help.
The coup leaders of Maldives are telling India not to interfere in the internal affairs of Maldives when India genuinely tried to help find a way out from the situation in Maldives. In fact when the Indian well wishes and help for the closest neighbour is rejected by these coup leaders , India does not need to interfere with the domestic issues. Instead, India can change the foreign policy towards Maldives and just turn away from those who say they do not need Indian help. If India simply says that they do not want friendship with a coup government, it will be certainly more powerful than an atomic bomb for the tiny country. So India does not need to send military, or interfere in domestic affairs. Just tell the Maldivian coup leaders that India does not want friendship with someone who does not listen to India and who always spread anti Indian rhetoric. We Maldivians love India and we need Indian help. But the coup leaders are openly anti Indian, and Indian high commission knows this
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