Maldives says false news reports could affect ties with India
The Indian high commission had sent a letter, complaining about malicious local media reports targeting its personnel.
The Maldives on Friday said articles in the local media levelling false accusations against the Indian mission and its staff could affect long-standing friendly relations between the two sides, and that it is responsible for providing security to all foreign diplomats.
The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) too expressed deep concern over what it described as “disparaging and ill-founded remarks about Indian diplomats” in recent reports by Dhiyares, an online news outlet.
The reaction from the ruling party and the foreign ministry followed the Indian high commission sending a letter to the Maldivian foreign ministry last Thursday to complain about malicious local media reports targeting the mission and its personnel. The Indian side sought an investigation into the media reports and additional protection for diplomats and the high commission.
Asked about the matter at a regular news briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi noted that both the Maldivian foreign ministry and the ruling party had issued statements on the issue.
Without naming India, the Maldivian foreign ministry said in a statement in Dhivehi that it had taken note of articles “published repeatedly on local media, levelling false accusations at foreign ambassadors, missions and diplomats in the Maldives”.
“These actions affect the decades-long friendly relations the Maldives has maintained with friendly nations, and create hatred among the local population towards these friendly nations. This also puts the diplomats’ lives in danger and hinders their diplomatic work,” the statement said.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 stipulates immunities and privileges bestowed on diplomats, and the Maldives government is responsible for providing security to diplomats, their residences and missions. The foreign ministry asked the local media to respect international conventions and to “report in a manner that does not affect the relations between the Maldives and other countries”.
The MDP was more direct in its criticism of recent reports in Dhiyares, and urged the website and its co-founder Ahmed Azaan to “refrain from dragging in the Maldives’ diplomatic partners and allies into their own political petty vendettas”. The website’s “continuous barrage of anti-India vitriol appears to be a well-funded, well-orchestrated and premeditated political campaign with the express purpose of whipping up hatred against the Maldives’ closest ally, India”, MDP said in a statement.
“Such campaigns of hatred carry real security concerns for the safety and security of diplomats in our country,” MDP added.
The Maldives’ Speaker Mohamed Nasheed on Friday called for an end to the spreading of hostility against India by those opposed to the government and MDP. He tweeted that “hostile” and “disrespectful” rhetoric was being spread against India in the Maldives.
Dhiyares and its sister news outlet, The Maldives Journal, have carried articles with unsubstantiated allegations against Indian diplomats in recent days. People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that there had been a concerted anti-India campaign in the Indian Ocean archipelago since the two sides signed an agreement in February to develop, support and maintain the Coast Guard harbour in Uthuru Thila Falhu, a key naval facility.
The Maldives doesn’t have a navy and the Coast Guard functions as the armed maritime component of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF). There is strong maritime cooperation between the two countries, and in the past, New Delhi has provided patrol vessels and surveillance aircraft to the MNDF.
India will support the development of the harbour, dockyard, other infrastructure, communications resources and radar services at Uthuru Thila Falhu and train Maldivian personnel. However, MNDF officials have made it clear that no foreign military personnel would be stationed at the facility.
