Friday 29th, March 2024
canara news

Sushma rush after Maldives rethink

Published On : 04 Oct 2015


New Delhi, Oct. 3 (The Telegraph): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rushing foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to the Maldives next week amid growing worries over China's influence on the Indian Ocean nation, signalling a rethink on a strategy to pressure the country following deep differences.

Sushma will visit Male on October 10 for detailed diplomatic discussions across all elements of bilateral relationship, senior officials said, seven months after Modi had pulled out of a planned trip to the Maldives because of rising tensions.

Former Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed, the India-friendly leader whose arrest in February made Modi cancel his Male trip, was put back in jail in late August after a period of house arrest. And the government of Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has only snuck closer to China, India's strategic rival, over this period.

But three Indian forensic investigation experts this week joined American and Saudi Arabian sleuths in Male to probe an explosion on a ferry that was carrying Abdulla on Monday, in a gesture of warmth days before Sushma's trip.

"Our approach of not talking so far has been, quite frankly, stupid," A.K. Banerjee, Indian high commissioner in Male in 1988 when New Delhi sent troops to the country to defeat an attempted coup, told The Telegraph. "Sure, we are a big country, but you've got to be sensitive with smaller neighbours, or you will end up with the kind of problems we have with the Maldives."

Modi was scheduled to visit the Maldives in March, on a trip during which he also travelled to fellow Indian Ocean island nations Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

But Nasheed's arrest in late February on charges of sedition, and his quick conviction and sentencing - to a 13-year term in jail - prompted criticism from India, the US, the UN and the European Union.

Modi called off the Male leg of his trip, and India questioned the Maldives' record on tolerating dissent, at the UN. Initially, the pressure from India appeared to be working -the Maldives government said it would challenge the court verdict against Nasheed, and commuted his sentence to house arrest.

But in July, the Maldives government rushed through Parliament a law that allows foreign nationals and companies to lease or purchase land on its islands - a policy that New Delhi fears could help China build bases right next to India.

Late in August, Nasheed was rearrested and put in jail, prompting international condemnation.

His lawyers include human rights attorney and Hollywood star George Clooney's wife Amal Clooney.

In early September, the Maldives and China held their first-ever joint commission meeting - talks that encompass all elements of a relationship, akin to the dialogue Sushma is travelling for.

In those talks, the Maldives even sought China's financial assistance to develop Male International Airport, a symbol of the tension in ties with India.

Bangalore-based infrastructure firm GMR had won a contract to develop and operate the airport but was evicted by Yameen's predecessor Mohammed Waheed, who was backed by the current President's party.

"China has already made massive inroads into the Maldives strategically," Banerjee said. "By not talking to the Maldives leadership, you make China's job even easier.


Write your Comments