Mutiny in Maldives: President Nasheed Resigns

The first democratically elected president of the Maldives resigned on February 7 and was replaced by his vice president after the police and army clashed in the streets of the island nation amid protests over the arrest of a top judge.
Keeping the uncontrolled situation in view, President Mohamed Nasheed stepped down after a police mutiny described as an “attempted coup”, capping weeks of upheaval. Mutiny by sections of the police and the army forced President Nasheed to quit. Vice President Mohamed Waheed, who previously worked as a top UNICEF official and clashed with Nasheed over the chief justice’s detention, was sworn in as president.
The resignation of President Nasheed marked a stunning fall for the former human rights campaigner who defeated the nation's longtime ruler in the country's first multiparty election.
Beginning of Crisis
The dramatic day began in the early hours when a group of policeman refused orders to break up an anti-government protest. It is said that members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were assaulted by officers, who later took over the state television station.
Nasheed had been facing increasingly violent street protests and a constitutional crisis ever since he got a judge arrested on January 16, after accusing him of being ‘in the pocket’ of his predecessor Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had ruled for 30 years before Nasheed was swept to power in 2008 as the first democratically elected President of Maldives.
Gayoom’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) had called for the overthrow of the government and for citizens to launch a jihad against the President. The Gayoom government had arrested Nasheed 27 times and imprisoned him for six years in all while agitating for democracy.
The situation turned ugly on February 7, with sections of the police and the army joining protesters in the capital Male and taking over the state-owned TV channel. Soon thereafter Nasheed announced that he was stepping down so that the government did not have to use force against Maldivians.
The street protests began with the arrest of the Chief Justice of the Criminal Court of Maldives, Abdulla Mohamed, on January 16, forcing the government to seek assistance from the UN as well as from the Commonwealth, for a team of legal experts to visit the country and help resolve the impasse.
The government had accused Judge Abdulla of being in complicity with criminals. “The opposition has been inciting people and spreading hatred to mobilise activists on the ground; the inflammatory speeches and incitement to violence is not something that the government can condone,” Maldivian Foreign Secretary Mohamed Naseer, who was in Colombo in the last week of January, had said.
The opposition PPM denied allegations of extremism. A PPM official in the Maldives claimed that violence during the protests had been instigated by vigilanttes unleashed by the government, many of whom hard-core criminals released from prison under a special program called ‘second chance.’
The islands are located strategically to the south west of India and straddle what is called the 9 degree channel of sea lane of communication. Indian warships patrol the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the islands as a goodwill gesture. The nation is within India’s sphere of influence and Indian Navy maintains regular contact.
Genesis of Problem
The issue came to a boil in mid-2010, when opposition members forced a deadlock by blocking all legislation. Stirring the pot continuously were a range of actors, from President Gayoom's half-brother, who heads an opposition party, to Islamists, who accused Nasheed of diluting the official religion. In the past few weeks, Male saw protests by Islamic radicals, who vandalised a mural presented by Pakistan to commemorate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in November 2011 as “un-Islamic”, and a Buddha statue gifted by Sri Lanka.
The opposition had also accused Nasheed of being anti-Islamic. Nasheed had swept to power in 2008 , pledging to introduce ‘full democracy’ to the low lying islands (1,200 of them, mostly uninhabited and none more than six feet above the sea level) and campaigning passionately on the dangers of climate change and rising sea levels.
India’s Stance
India has acted wisely by keeping out of the political tumult in the Maldives, and allowing events to take their own course. Entirely different circumstances dictated India's 1988 decision to send commandos to prevent a coup against Gayoom by Sri Lankan Tamil militants hired by his Maldivian opponents. In the present instance, any intervention to help Nasheed remain in power would have served neither him nor India well.
As many as 30,000 Indians in Maldives are said to be safe. Nasheed had sought military intervention by India to foil the ‘coup’. But while the India had flown in paratroopers and commandos in 1988 to foil a coup-attempt in Maldives, this time the Indian Government made it plain that it did not want to interfere.
Nevertheless, New Delhi can do without a radical Islamist state in its immediate neighborhood. India should have played a more pro-active role in helping Nasheed to tide over the crisis. This is in sharp contrast to former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi acting decisively to thwart a coup in Maldives in 1988.
Brief Profile of New President
Hassan, who was educated at Stanford University in California, was the first television anchor in Maldives history and the first person shown live when local TV went on the air in 1978, according to his official biography.
According to Hassan’s biography, he became a top education official in the country, but eventually left under duress after getting elected to Parliament and incurring the ire of the autocratic government ruling in the 1990s. He joined UNICEF and rose to be its representative in Afghanistan, helping rebuild schools and provide health services after the fall of the Taliban.
Assessment
The present crisis that has engulfed Maldives is a manifestation of the simmering battle for control over the country’s politics and administration between Nasheed, who was elected President in 2008 when the first free and fair election was held in 2008, and his predecessor, Gayoom, a ruthless autocrat. Behind the facade of anti-Nasheed protests that have succeeded in unseating him lurks the ugly face of radical Islamists.
They have been eyeing power for some time now and the protests came as a golden opportunity for them to stage their version of the ‘Arab Spring’. Already, there are signals of Maldives adopting fanaticism as state policy. This does not augur well for India.

Pakistan-India Dialogue: Effects on Afghanistan

In the second week of April 2010, during the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, in addition to meeting leaders of other countries Pakistan's Prime Minister also held a meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh. The meeting was held on October 29 at the time when Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai also held meetings with Pakistani and Indian leaders in a bid to help improve ties between these two countries.

Mumbai Attacks Case
After the Mumbai attacks in 2009 when relations between Pakistan and India deteriorated and the series of meetings halted, the two countries at the time did not agree to hold talks even on the mediation of the United Nations. Each summit of SAARC concludes in the interest of all participating countries. On the sidelines of this summit, bilateral meeting between Pakistan and India is considered beneficial for both the countries. Here we discuss and write to see what will be the interest of Afghanistan if good relations exist between Pakistan and India?

The communiqué of SAARC meeting between Gilani and Manmohan says that Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was also accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Qureshi held a meeting with his Indian counterpart, S M Krishna. In addition to this prime ministers of both the countries were accompanied by their aides as well as other high level officials.

Now, first we look into the meeting of the leaders of Pakistan and India, and then we will think on the aspect of Afghanistan. Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after a long term of bad relations, once again agreed to start composite dialogue between Pakistan and India. Although the issue of Mumbai incident was raised by the high-level Indian officials, the agreement to start composite dialogue helped end last year's tension. In addition to this tension, agreement was reached to hold talks. Leaders of both the countries acknowledged that holding talks can resolve disputes between the two countries and this will be in the interest of not only India and Pakistan but also for the region. During the meeting and talks, which continued for about 50 minutes, it was also stressed that both countries will stop using their soils against each other. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani met with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at the time when conclusion of SAARC Summit was announced. With the conclusion of SAARC Summit, leaders of both countries agreed to hold bilateral meetings and to continue talks between the two countries.

Eliminating Terrorism
Last year this meeting was held at Sharm al-Shaykh. In that meeting also, leaders of India and Pakistan met but the issue of Mumbai incident remained unchanged between them and India continued blaming Pakistan of harboring terrorism and establishing terror camps in Kashmir and other parts of India. Whatsoever was discussed in this meeting but India raised the issue that Pakistan harbors terrorism. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, that whenever ties between the two countries deteriorated, Bangladesh is affected first and on political aspect the damage to Bangladesh should be given more attention because on the issue of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India fought a bloody war in 1971 and after that Bangladesh was separated from Pakistan.

On neighborhood basis, though, Afghanistan has no joint border with India but on political basis Afghanistan needs more relations with India than Pakistan. This need has emerged because of the current warring situation in Afghanistan. In comparison to Pakistan, relations with India are more important for Afghanistan because India has no religious, cultural, and ideological ties with Afghanistan. If on political basis Afghanistan does no make ties with India, then it India, in the form of an enemy can inflict damage of any type to Afghanistan. At the time when Pakistan and India were at war for the liberation of Kashmir in 1965, ties between India and Afghanistan were better.

Political Rivalry Between India and Pakistan
In the face of these good relations a number of Pakistanis were of the view that India was carrying out aerial attacks on Western Pakistan from Afghanistan's side and border. Therefore, because of the bad relations between Pakistan and India, ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan also deteriorated. Indian observers claim and expressing their views, during literary gatherings, that Pakistan has not got good neighboring relations with Afghanistan. But the Pakistani people and Afghanistan say that India pursues its interests in Afghanistan and want to deteriorate ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As Pakistan and India now want to improve their relations and for this purpose they agreed to hold dialogue and meetings. This situation is in the best interest of Afghanistan because, although, Afghanistan has suffered damages because of the attacks by foreign armies, it also experienced losses in the form of education, culture and population because of political rivalry between India and Pakistan. Whenever Pakistan wanted, it has boosted reconstruction work in Afghanistan for improving friendship. India has changed the minds of a number of Afghans toward conspiracies against Pakistan. India has three objectives to achieve against Pakistan; it wants to change the minds of Persian-speaking people and to augment its influence and increase its supporters in Afghanistan.

Hatching Conspiracies
Since 2001, India has made pledges with Afghans for making five dams in Afghanistan. It is stated that three important dams will be constructed in Mazar-e-Sharif, Ghazni and Kunar and later will plan the construction of two other dams in Helmand and Parwan provinces. So far neither the dam was built on the waters of River Amo in Mazar-e-Sharif nor any power plants were installed at Sultan Band to provide electricity to Ghazni and Wardak and also no embankment was made at the river in Kunar. Parwan and Helmand Province have already been discussed later in the plan. But even if there are good ties between India and Pakistan, they prove helpful for Afghanistan.

The first thing is India should refrain from hatching conspiracies against Pakistan and Afghanistan and the second thing is it should not oppose awarding contracts of works and constructions in Afghanistan to Afghanistan; India should itself compete in the reconstruction work in Afghanistan. In this way Afghanistan will be reconstructed as the result of good relations between Pakistan and India. Relations will be better between these two countries and its benefit will go to Afghanistan also.

Indian Bona Fide’s Questionable in Sri Lankan Issues

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao recently said India stood ready with more funding for Sri Lanka's rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in the war affected northern region.

India has continued funding the northern reconstruction and economic development process ever since the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was concluded on 18 May 2009. India has poured in billions of dollars for Northern Province reconstruction and rehabilitation projects undertaken by the Sri Lankan Government and recently announced more funding for the reconstruction of the Palali Airport in the Jaffna Peninsula and development of the Kankesanturai Harbor.

Victory Over LTTE
There is no gainsaying the fact that India's liberal assistance for the economic restoration effort in the Northern Province, which was completely devastated by the three-decade long war, deserves commendation. But the dominant question that begs an answer today is whether her liberal funding for the development and reconstruction projects in the north will in any way help restore an enduring peace in this war-torn nation. It is an open secret that India extended to the Sri Lankan Government her unreserved support to help bring the war against the LTTE to a decisive end.

The Sri Lankan Government would certainly have not been able to so conclusively deal a death blow to the LTTR militarily had India's unreserved support not been forthcoming on all fronts. The Sri Lankan Government celebrates the first anniversary of the military victory over the LTTE on 18 May. But the same government has not taken any credible action to resolve the enduring ethnic grievance which in the first place triggered that brutal war.

President's Personal Commitment
At the outset President Mahinda Rajapaksa publicly held out a personal commitment to unveil a solution to this outstanding issue after the holding of the presidential election. Then, after the presidential election was concluded, he modified that commitment to say he would iron out an agreement on an equitable solution through negotiations with the Tamil MPs who would be elected to parliamentary in the parliamentary general elections. When that point was reached he then said the negotiations with the Tamil MP's would begin after his return from the SAARC Summit in Bhutan.

The SAARC Summit is also past us. Instead of inviting the Tamil National Alliance for talks to explore a solution to the grievances of the Tamil community, the government seems to be instead occupied with attempts to weaken the Tamil National Alliance politically.

Implementing 13th Amendment
Earlier official commitments to implement a 13th Amendment plus solution to remedy all Tamil grievances are now in limbo and the government is guardedly tight lipped on the 13 plus topic.

At the time that the government emerged the victor in the war against the LTTE in 2009, India was actively pressing for a solution based on the 13th Amendment. India also insisted that the solution offered now should surpass the provisions of the 13th Amendment.

However, what has happened now? We see a subtle yet unmistakable change of attitude on the part of the Indian Government toward the nature of a solution to the grievances of the Tamil community. While India is at pains to compete with China and Pakistan in helping Sri Lanka on several fronts, Delhi does not now seem to be concerned about a settlement to the ethnic issue that will satisfy the aspirations of the Sri Lankan Tamils living in the north and east. Instead, India seems content to be a mere unconcerned listener to all that is said by the Sri Lankan government.

Establishing Permanent Peace
Peace and harmony cannot be ushered in purely through financial assistance extended by the Indian government to Sri Lanka. India's contribution is more direly required to bring about a lasting solution to the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. India should understand this reality. Her current backing of Sri Lanka will never help establish a permanent peace in the country.

India should also understand that all the economic development in a country which lacks peace will not only be an illusion of a solution, but will ultimately prove to be a wasted effort.

Revival of Pakistan-India Composite Dialogue

The Prime Ministers of Pakistan and India have met on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit in Thimphu (Bhutan) and again agreed for the revival of composite dialogue that was deadlocked after Mumbai attacks। The two leaders also held an informal meeting on the occasion of the summit, both expressed good will gestures, and also walked together for a while in SAARC village during which views were exchanged on different affairs. On the very next day the two prime ministers held formal talks, with the agenda of reviving the composite dialogue.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told that the two countries have agreed on resumption of composite dialogue। Foreign Minister Qureshi acknowledged that there is trust deficit between the two countries and the composite dialogue can help remove this trust deficit. The Indian foreign secretary said dialogue is the only course to resolve disputes.

Internal Indian Politics
Shah Mahmud Qureshi had said that Manmohan Singh is a positive person but the internal Indian politics is preventing him from establishing better relationship with Pakistan। At present, the political parties of India play the card of Pakistan-India relationship.

Every political party tries to excel others in its anti-Pakistan policy on the occasion of elections because it is believed that a party which is more anti-Pakistan can get more votes। This is a strange logic. They are unaware of the fact that majority of the Indian people are fed up with the anti-Pakistan policies of the political parties.

Impact of Madhuri Gupta's Arrest
India has arrested a woman diplomat of its high commission in Islamabad, Madhuri Gupta from New Delhi for allegedly spying for Pakistan, while monitoring of the RAW station head in Islamabad has been tightened। The Indian news agencies quotes authorities in the Indian Intelligence Bureau as saying that Madhuri Gupta was working as the second secretary in the press wing of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and she was providing intelligence regarding India to Pakistani intelligence agencies.

The woman was called to New Delhi four days ago on the pretext of consultations about SAARC Summit। The charge on which the Indian woman was arrested is India's internal matter but the Indian authorities often level such charges against passengers and the Indian Muslims. Charges have been leveled against a high-ranking official of the Indian High Commission after a long time. The Pakistani authorities are required to be very cautious and watchful in this regard because India had coined such pretexts before starting 1965 and 1971 wars.

Demand of Situation
They are of the view that instead of stoking tensions, the political parties of India should provide relief to the people bogged down in the quagmire of poverty। If closely seen, a large number of people in India are presently forced to live a life below the poverty line. However, the rulers obsessed by war frenzy ignore education, other sectors and engaged in stockpiling weapons.

The revival of composite dialogue between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India is a welcoming step. Now, Manmohan Singh should come out of the sphere of regional politics and don't pay heed to the opposition parties. He should respect the opinion of the Indian people and extend a hand of friendship to Pakistan.