India and Maldives have had a very cordial relation since a very long time. India has helped Maldives, the archipelago nation in Indian ocean, on many occasions.
In 1988 the Indian Forces helped to face a rag tag rebel group that tried to overturn the established Maldivian government in 1988. In 2014, when there was a serious drinking water shortage in the country capital Malé, Indian Navy rushed to help before any other country could.
End of a friendship
Things have changed. In February, President Abdulla Yameen declared a 45 days emergency in the country to annul a Supreme Court judgement which nullified the jail sentence of nine opposition leaders, including Mohamed Nasheed. This was highly criticized by many countries, including India.
In June 2018, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, former Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and another Supreme Court judge, Justice Ali Hameed were handed 19 months long jail sentence by the Yameen government. They were charged for not giving their phones to the police for investigation.
This was highly criticized with India releasing a statement to openly condemn the act. “It is… with deep dismay that we learned that the former President of the Maldives as well as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are being sentenced to long prison terms without fair trial,” said India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
India also criticized the Maldivian government for holding its election in September saying that the government should first restore the rule of law and make sure that the elections will be held in a democratic manner.
India never really supported Abdulla Yameen as it had supported former President Abdul Gayoom. In president Yameen’s governance, Maldives have been leaning towards China, with China investing huge amounts in the archipelago nation. This has been annoying Delhi for a long time which is well known to Maldives.
Towards confrontation
Recently, the Maldives government asked India to take back the two helicopters which were gifted by the Indian government to the Maldivian government. “They were very useful in the past but with the development of adequate infrastructure, facilities and resources. We are now in a position to handle medical evacuations on our own,” said Ahmed Mohamed, ambassador of Maldives to India.
The first helicopter was gifted in 2010 during ex-president Mohamed Nasheed’s government and the second one was gifted last year in April. The two helicopters were stationed in Addu Gan and Laamu Kadhdoo with 50 Indian military personnel on both the locations.
The locations are strategically important and the Yameen government wants to remove any footprint of Indian officials amid their growing friendship with China. They believe that the Indian personnel are going to spy the activities happening between China and Maldives.
The Maldives government in June had asked India to take back the helicopters by the end of the month. The Maldives government refused to renew the work visa of 26 IAF personnel that expired in June. The Indian government is yet to take back the helicopters. The Indian external ministry is handling the cases of expired visa of the personnel.
In 2018, a pro-Yameen government newspaper reported Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a Hindu extremist who is anti-Muslims. It suggested the Yameen government to start developing their relationship with China and to start avoiding India.
Maldives growing friendship with China
With India-Maldives worsening relations, China is making sure to make full advantage of this condition. With China warning India to stop interfering in the internal politics of Maldives, it clearly shows who the island nation sees as its ally. India was quick to respond and before anyone could guess it said that they won’t be interfering in the internal politics of Maldives and gave the same assurance to China.
Maldives signed a Free Trade Agreement with China, first ever country to have signed this deal with the island nation, and later enthusiastically adopted the Maritime Belt and Road Initiative. This initiative is a nicely planed package to extend China’s economic and military thrust into the Indian Ocean. This may lead to security tension in India.
Have you read? The Impact of One Belt One Road Initiative on Rivalry in Indian Ocean
Maldives also annulled a contact of over $500 million with GMR group (Indian Company) to develop international airport near the capital by giving it to a Chinese company. Yameen government is also planning to take a huge loan from China with China insuring them of easy loan return facility. World Bank and IMF have shown their concerns over this deal stating that there is a very less possibility for Maldives to remove the debt looking at the current situation of the country.
With the downfall of India and Maldives relations, over 2000 Indian citizens who work or are planning to work in the island country are getting affected. There are reports that Indian citizens are not given work visa, or their visas are not getting renewed. In many of the companies, there are advertisements being put up which says “Indian Nationals need not apply” because they are not getting permission to enter the country.
The opposition is stating their concerns over the country getting close to China. A former Foreign Minister of Maldives Ahmed Naseen has alleged that China is grabbing land in Maldives that can be turned in to military bases and that this will not only destabilize the Indian ocean region but will also be detrimental to Indian security.
With the coming elections, it will be interesting to see whether the citizens of Maldives are going to vote for Abdula Yameen or they will give chance to another ruler “democratically”.