Maldives foreign minister briefs Sushma Swaraj about domestic situation

NEW DELHI: In the past few weeks, Maldives has lurched through one political crisis after - from an emergency to the impeachment of the vice-president - raising questions about its stability. It has driven Maldives' foreign minister Dunya Maumoon to New Delhi to brief her counterpart Sushma Swaraj. Dunya was in Delhi over the weekend to meet Swaraj and other senior officials to discuss the evolving situation in Maldives. "There have been many developments in Maldives, and I wanted to apprise Minister Swaraj personally," Dunya told journalists here.

Describing the current state of bilateral relations as a "return" to the golden days of Abdul Gayoom, she said the Maldives government "appreciated" India's restraint in making public statements about ongoing developments in her country.

India has stayed quiet about the imposition of emergency by the Abdulla Yameen government on the grounds that explosives and weapons were found in several places, some close to the presidential palace, giving credence to the alleged conspiracy to kill the President. New Delhi has also been silent over the arrest and impeachment of former vice president Adeeb who is now believed to be the main accused behind an that plot.

The Maldives government lifted the emergency several weeks before it was due to be lifted. "We had completed the searches for weapons and explosives, including those missing from the MNDF armoury," Dunya said. "In addition, there was a small dip in tourist arrivals." Tourism is the mainstay of the Maldivian economy.

Dunya said they had found weapons hidden under water as well as a stick of dynamite on a petroleum truck, in addition to weapons removed from the MNDF, leading to concerns that the government was being targeted. After the 20th September explosion on Yameen's boat which injured his wife, Maldives invited US, Australia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and India to help with the investigations. After its probe, the US said there were no explosives, but Saudis said there were. Sri Lanka did not do any chemical analysis on the boat, and India, she said, did not submit any report.

The Indian Ocean island paradise has in the past three years gone through an alarming number of instability-inducing events, prompting some alarm within India's security establishment - Maldives occupies a very important place in India's ocean security matrix. Concerns about the quality of democracy will inevitably be trumped by concerns of stability. Without ever articulating it, it's now clear that Yameen and his government have consolidated their position in Maldives. Former President Mohamed Nasheed is in prison for 13 years on charges of terrorism, former defence minister Nazim is also in prison on similar charges. They are now joined by Adeeb who was arrested just weeks ago.

India has chosen to do its bit in Maldives quietly at a time when China appears to be moving in quite rapidly into the island country. Beijing is bankrolling key infrastructure projects in Maldives, including a bridge between Male and the airport island of Hulhule. The international airport snatched from GMR by the previous Maldives government is being built with soft loans from China. The Chinese are also among the largest number of tourists visiting Maldives. India is also concerned that the new land lease law by Maldives would allow Chinese state-owned businesses to acquire real estate in Maldives. Dunya reiterated the assurance already given to India that it would not affect sovereignty or security.