Maldives dismisses India’s concerns on emergency
The Maldives on Thursday brushed aside India’s strong concerns over a 30-day extension of a state of emergency and said the world community should refrain from any intervention in the island nation.
In an unusually blunt statement, the Maldives foreign ministry responded to India’s dismay over the emergency being extended on Tuesday by saying that “friends and partners in the international community, including India, (should) refrain from any actions that could hinder resolving the situation facing the country”.
The statement dismissed India’s contention that the extension of the emergency was unconstitutional as “a clear distortion of facts, which ignore the Constitution and laws of the Maldives”.
President Abdulla Yameen’s regime pushed through the extension of the emergency through a vote in a parliamentary session that was boycotted by the opposition.
The move came hours after India had warned against the emergency imposed on February 5 being extended.
The external affairs ministry had on Wednesday said India was “deeply dismayed” that the emergency had been extended in a manner that contravened the Constitution of Maldives. It also said the delay in the resumption of the political process would impact the restoration of normalcy in the Maldives.
India had also called for all democratic institutions in the Maldives to be allowed to function in a fair and transparent manner.
After the Maldives Parliament’s approval, ruling party legislators sought the opinion of the Supreme Court, which on Wednesday issued a temporary ruling ordering the Parliament and the “relevant state authorities” to act upon the extension.
The Maldivian foreign ministry statement said: “There is no doubt that the Maldives is experiencing one of the most difficult periods in the history of the nation. It is therefore important that friends and partners in the international community, including India, refrain from any actions that could hinder resolving the situation facing the country.”
The statement said that the government would work closely with “the international community, including India” and “address the concerns they might have”.