CHENNAI: Veteran Maldivian diplomat Abdulla Shahid, the new leader of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has defended Male’s close ties with New Delhi, emphasising that muddying ties with India is impossible regardless of the foreign policy changes made by the new government here.
In an interview, the 61-year-old former president of the UN General Assembly said, “India is tied to us historically, culturally, and in several other ways.”
The Maldives cannot distance itself from the geographical and historical significance of India as an ally, he was quoted as saying during the interview held last week. Shahid, who was elected to the top post without an election last Tuesday, recalled the foreign military incursion to the Maldives on November 3, 1988, led by Tamil mercenaries, and highlighted the role of the Indian military’s assistance in tackling the situation.
He also emphasised that India was the first of the allies to assist in the 2004 tsunami crisis and also recalled the water crisis in Male, adding India had flown special flights carrying water within four hours of the crisis. Shahid, who served as the minister of foreign affairs from 2018 to 2023, also recalled India was the first to aid the Maldives in the 2020 Covid pandemic.
“India has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world for the past 60 years. It is also the fastest-growing economic state with the largest population in the world. So our policies should focus on exploring all avenues from which the Maldives could benefit owing to the economic progress made by India,” Shahid was quoted as saying.