India urges Maldives to resolve issues peacefully

Ruling out intervention, India’s special envoy to the Maldives Saturday met key political figures, including the ousted president and his successor, in Male and urged them to resolve “complex issues” democratically in “an atmosphere of peace and calm”.

India intensified its outreach to key stakeholders in the Maldives, the Indian Ocean island nation known for its luxury island resorts, even as the international community, including the US and the UN, joined in to pacify the crisis triggered by the resignation of Mohamed Nasheed under questionable circumstances.

Amid accusations of a coup by Nasheed and his supporters, new President Mohamed Waheed Hassan offered to submit himself to a probe that will go into the chain of events leading to his predecessor’s resignation.

India’s special envoy M. Ganapathi, Secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry, met the “widest possible cross-section of stake holders in Maldives” and underlined the need for taking the political process forward within the framework of the Maldivian constitution.

In all his talks, the central message was that it was for Maldivians to take charge and restore peace and stability.

Ganapathi met Nasheed and Waheed and impressed upon them to speed up the political process of forming a broad-based coalition government that could restore peace and stability. He also met other political leaders, the chief justice of the Maldives’ Supreme Court, and new Home Minister Mohamed Jameel.

Ruling out any military intervention, Ganapathi reiterated India’s position that the present crisis was an internal affair of that country and should be resolved by its people democratically.

“The political process will continue to evolve and we would continue to monitor the situation,” he told reporters in Male before leaving for Delhi.

“There is no countenancing any intervention at all. It is engagement. It is for Maldivians to take charge,” he said.

“The situation is of course complex. We would like to see it resolved in an atmosphere of calm and peace so that it does not affect the common man in the Maldives,” said Ganapathi, who was sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday.

Ganapathi’s visit came days after Nasheed’s resignation amid opposition protests and a police mutiny. Subsequently, Manmohan Singh wrote a letter to the new president and offered India’s help, if needed, for stabilising the situation.

Asked about Nasheed seeking India’s intervention, Ganapathi said, “… this is an internal development in Maldives which should be resolved peacefully and democratically by the people of Maldives”.

“I think this is not a cricket match. I think this a serious issue… I think we remain continuously engaged with President Nasheed and his team,” he said to queries if India had made a mistake and lost out by not backing Nasheed.

“I did convey to the leaders here, including President Nasheed, that Indian position is that India recognises states. That has been our consistent policy.”

Asked if India backed early elections as sought by Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party, Ganapathi said that had to be determined by Maldivian political leadership.

The new president has said the next elections would be held as per schedule in 2013.

Ganapathi stressed that around 30,000 Indians who live in the Maldives are safe and so are Indian investments, including the multi-million dollar airport project of GMR, an Indian enterprise.

“We have been assured that nothing will be done to affect foreign investments, including Indian investments in this country,” he said.

Even as India pitched for a Maldivian-led political process to resolve the stalemate, US and UN envoys touched down in the island nation and engaged with key figures across the spectrum.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake met both Nasheed and Waheed.

UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, who arrived in Male Friday, also held talks and urged all “political actors to remain calm and prevent any type of violence”.

In Washington, the State Department, however, vacillated on its recognition of the new Maldivian government. “The circumstances are murky, they are contested, the situation is somewhat fluid,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said Friday evening.