Male, February 9 (newsin.asia): The Maldivian ruling party, Progressives Party of Maldives (PPM), has condemned the irresponsible and ill-informed comments made by Indian and Maldivian panelists in an NDTV program on the crisis in the Maldives which was aired on February 7.
“We see the calls by the panelist to meddle in the internal politics of the Maldives, support the opposition parties and disrupt the functioning of the Maldivian government as irresponsible,” a press release by the PPM said on Thursday.
“Former President Nasheed’s invitation for Indian military intervention is seen as being unlawful by the people of the Maldives. Such irrational and irresponsible statements lead to unnecessary tensions between India and the Maldives, which are historical allies and nearest neighbors.”
“We are confident that India too will view such absurd comments as harmful to collective national and regional interests,” the release said.
Pointing to the objectionable statements made by panelists in the program: “Left, Right and Centre/Crisis in Maldives: Should India send in troops?” the PPM release said that it was “distasteful” to see a former Speaker of the Maldivian parliament, a former Foreign Minister and a sitting Member of Parliament Abdulla Shahid, overtly supporting military intervention from a neighboring country.
“We strongly condemn any and all outside intervention in the domestic affairs of the Maldives and view it as a threat to the national security of the Maldives,” the PPM said.
Bloomers
The release pointed out bloomers made in the discussion by one of the participants, the former Indian diplomat, Krishan Chander Singh. Singh told the panel that in 2011, President Nasheed was “dragged out of parliament” when actually in 2011, Nasheed was not a member of parliament. He was President of the Maldives. There was only one occasion on which President Nasheed attended parliament in that year and that was on March 3, 2011 to deliver his annual address to House.
“And on that occasion, Nasheed was certainly not dragged,” the PPM recalled.
Singh also said that President Abdulla Yameen had “unceremoniously kicked out” the Indian airport construction company GMR .But the truth was that it was not President Yameen who cancelled the agreement.
“When the government of the Maldives withdrew from the biased agreement between GMR and the Maldives, the current President was a member of parliament and not the President of the country. After Arbitration, dues were paid to GMR for their investment,” the release pointed out.
(The featured image at the top shows participants in the NDTV program on the crisis in the Maldives)