Our 911 call, India has always helped us: Ex Maldives Minister
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Male: Former Maldives Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi on Monday said India has always been the '911 call' for the Maldives in emergency, news agency ANI reported.
Mariya Ahmed Didi came down on the ‘short-sightedness’ of the current regime in Maldives that turned its back on India in favour of its pro-China policy.
Expressing disappointment over disparaging remarks against PM Modi made by three ministers in Maldives, she said India has always been a reliable ally providing help in areas including defence.
‘It is the short-sightedness on the part of the present administration... We are a small country who are friends with all, but we cannot deny that we share borders with India. We share similar security concerns. India has always helped us. They have been helping us even in the defence sector with capacity building, providing us with equipment, and trying to make us more self-sufficient,’ Mariya Ahmed Didi was quoted as saying.
Describing India and Maldives as like-minded in the quest for democracy and human rights, she said the current regime in the island nation thinks it can forgo ‘the age-old relationship that we had always with India’.
Following PM Modi’s visit to Union Territory Lakshadweep days ago, causing massive search for the area on Google for its tourist potentials, three ministers of Maldives made ‘disparaging and unsavoury’ remarks on PM Modi.
This has led to widespread protest on social media with a large of number of Indian tourists announcing cancellation of their tour plans to the island nation, alongside many claimed cancelling their flight bookings.
Caught in the storm of protest, authorities Maldives quickly suspended the ministers and distanced itself from their statements against PM Modi and India.
The former Maldives Defence Minister, describing India as its 911 call in emergency, stressed the importance of continuing the country’s historical "India first" policy.
Regarding the Indian troops presence in Maldives, the former minister reportedly said: "It has never been a question of Indian troops being here or anything like that. They have been here to help us on our government's request. Several successive governments have requested that they come and help us... It has been helping us keep our citizens safe, and it's sad that we do not see it that way.’