Mohamed Nasheed, exiled former President of the Maldives, on Saturday urged India to employ “gunboat diplomacy” to put pressure on the current regime in the island country to conduct free and fair elections.
“I am not asking India to send troops to the Maldives to fight. I am asking for an envoy backed by muscle so that President [Abdulla] Yameen would listen to India. I am not even asking for a regime change in that sense. What we are looking for is an interim arrangement that will take us to free and fair election,” Mr. Nasheed said in an interaction with Suhasini Haider, Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu .
Urging India to act immediately, Mr. Nasheed said, “We are in a defining moment in the Indian Ocean. If we go into an election in 2018 with no other candidates, President Yameen will win. Then we will have at least 10 years of autocratic rule. After that India or anyone else in the world will not be able to pull us out of that situation. If nothing is done today, you would lose the moment.”
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ISIS scare
Highlighting the enormity of the crisis in the Maldives, Mr. Nasheed said the current situation sprang from two recent developments. First, the development of a state within the state of the Maldives by the ISIS. Second, attempts by emerging powers to change state type, with a view to drive land grab.
“ISIS are quietly manoeuvring themselves into key positions within the security forces, judiciary, various government agencies and the street gangs in the Maldives. This systematic embedding into the political, bureaucratic and social fabric of the country means they are close to effectively running a parallel shadow state, the deep ISIS state in the Maldives,” Mr. Nasheed said.
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Speaking about land grab, the former President said: “A far more sophisticated attack on the Maldives is happening without a single shot being fired. Although land grabs are occurring worldwide, they are more common in countries where the protection of human rights is poor. Due to a combination of international and domestic drivers, the Maldives has become a flourishing land grab paradise.”
Mr. Nasheed said that over 70% of Maldives’ international debt was held by China, which could lead to more land being grabbed.
“When countries can’t pay back the debt, they ask for equity and we end up relinquishing sovereignty. Without firing a single shot, China has grabbed more land than what the East India company had, at the height of the colonial era. They have weaponised foreign direct investments,” he said.
Asked if the crisis in the Maldives could lead to a flashpoint between India and China, Mr. Nasheed said, “There is a cold war brewing in the Indian Ocean, and we have to be mindful of that. We must be mindful of India’s safety and security.”