Maldivians see India’s potential role in resolving the crisis gripping the island not as an occupation, but as “liberating assistance”, exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed said, reiterating his earlier call for Indian intervention.
Apparently rebutting China’s recent statement that the Maldives could deal with the current situation on its own, he said: “Some say this crisis must be resolved domestically. But that would involve fist fights, and blood on the streets, which could lead to anything.”
Amid heightening political upheaval in the Indian Ocean island over the last week, culminating in President Abdulla Yameen declaring a state of emergency on Monday, Mr. Nasheed on Tuesday sought Indian military intervention to release jailed dissidents.
Pointing to an earlier instance of Indian intervention in the Maldives in 1988, Mr. Nasheed said: “They [India] come, they sort out the situation, and they promptly leave... it is because a vast majority of our people want India to intervene that I sought India’s help. I wouldn’t have called for that if it would backfire at home,” he told The Hindu. He was referring to a coup attempt that India helped put down, on then President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s request.
Meanwhile, the government said the state of emergency addressed “certain internal aspects of governance” affecting mostly the capital, and not tourist resorts. “Life in the Maldives continues as normal,” said a statement issued on Wednesday to “assure the international community.”
Following the declaration of emergency rule, a wave of high-profile arrests has been reported in the capital. Early Tuesday, security officials arrested Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and another judge of the court. Former President Gayoom, estranged half-brother of Mr. Yameen who is now with the opposition, was arrested in his home.
‘Judge ill-treated’
The opposition alliance called for the immediate release of President Gayoom. “I am told President Gayoom is not taking food, while Justice Ali Hameed has been ill-treated,” Mr. Nasheed said on Twitter.
However, Dunya Maumoon, Mr. Gayoom’s daughter and a Minister of State in President Yameen’s government, countered Mr. Nasheed’s update on her father. “I just visited my father. He is keeping well. Nasheed is just spreading rumours,” she told Reuters.
International pressure on the Male government escalated, amid reports of imminent arrests in the capital. In a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the developments in Male were “tantamount to an all-out assault on democracy.”
He said the declaration of the state of emergency had “swept away the checks and balances” in the system.
China calls for dialogue
China on Wednesday signalled that it could activate international diplomacy to resolve the crisis. “The international community should play a constructive role based on respecting the sovereignty of the Maldives, instead of taking actions that may complicate the situation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing.
“In the past few days, I have said the current situation in the Maldives is its internal affairs. It should be properly resolved through dialogue and consultation by relevant parties,” he added.
Requesting anonymity, an official source told The Hindu that China conveyed to the “international community”, including India and the U.S., that the situation in the Maldives should be resolved through a home-grown process. “We hope relevant parties can properly resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation and restore the national stability and social order as soon as possible,” Mr. Geng said.
