Three councillors of the Maldives Gaafu Alifu atol were suspended for three months after their meeting with the Indian Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra without the prior permission of the Maldives Government.
The suspension came following an order of the Maldives Government that said that all meetings with foreign diplomats have to be first cleared by Maldives Home Ministry. Incidentally, all the three suspended councillors — Ahmed Fuad, Ahmed Nazmeen and Hussein Adam — belong to the country's main Opposition party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
In an interview to the Maldives Independent newspaper, one of the councilors, Fuad claimed that the meeting with the Indian diplomat had taken place before the local Government Authority circular was issued prohibiting meetings with diplomats without permission.
“We were having dinner with the Indian Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra around the time lGA issued the circular. We received a copy of the circular more than half an hour after the dinner meeting,” Fuad told the Maldives newspaper.
The news evoked sharp reactions from the diplomatic community posted in Maldives as it termed the gag order a deterioration in democracy and freedom. The Indian Government, however, has remained mum on the issue.
Nevertheless, reacting to other issues, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, in his weekly Press conference, expressed hope that Maldives will be sensitive to India's concerns keeping in mind its ‘India First’ policy.
His statement came in the context of questions on Maldives' growing warmth towards China and the recent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. The FTA was hurriedly pushed through in the Maldives Parliament in a special session. Following this, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen also made his first State visit to China.
The FTA came as a surprise for people both in Maldives and in India as Yameen had just a year ago announced that Maldives' first FTA will be with India.
“India attaches the highest importance to its relations with Maldives. Our two countries have strong historical and civilisation linkages at the people-to-people level. We are also committed to supporting democracy, development and stability in Maldives. It is our expectation that as a close and friendly neighbour, Maldives will be sensitive to our concerns in keeping with its 'India First' policy,” Raveesh said.
“We have seen reports about the Maldives-China Free Trade Agreement. The reports have also alluded to the manner in which the FTA was passed by the Majlis. We are yet to see the document, and hence, it will not be appropriate for me to speculate on the contents,” he added.
Interestingly, the militaries of India and Maldives begin their two-week long joint exercise — Ekuverin — from Friday at Belagavi, near Bengaluru.