Sunday 16 August 2009

Say NO; Maldives Becoming an Indian Protectorate?



Words about Maldives becoming an Indian protectorate was uttered by some Indians in a restaurant in Rusholme, Manchester, UK just 2 days back. The Maldivian who heard the conversation could not believe it. Ofcourse something like that could not happen, will never be allowed to happen. This just cannot be true.

But the mvblogosphere was already posting blog articles about this issue with reference to an article published in the Indian Express. I refused to believe it, until I read enough to understand that this may be a possibility!

But, how could it happen?

Read the Gate Way to India; think about lakshwadeep; think about what goes through your mind as you listen to the dhivehi songs sung by Maliku people; think about November 3rd 1988; and the establishment of IGMH; the number of referals by IGMH for further treatment to India.......our health care system is dependent on Indian assistance; think of the number of people making India their home; read all that is written in this article http://www.mnasheed.com/2009/08/is-maldives-going-under-indian-protection/ ; think about how British East India company gradually took over Indian independence; think about the possibility of the 'Indian military arrangements as being dictated to us as a price we have to pay for getting Indian financial assistance to alleviate the economic and financial hardship faced by' the Maldives; think about our plight......dependent on India for health care?; dependent on India to alleviate our economic and financial hardship?; dependent on India for national security?; think of of your freedom now; think of what you may be about to become.

Why?
Somali pirates to be blamed?; links between Maldives and pockets of terrorism?; Maldivians involved in Mumbai blasts in some remote way?; islands or resorts under threat of terrorist attacks?; possibilities that some time in future there may be a misuse of our islands and oceans by terrorists?

Sorry, I refuse to buy the logic.

Please do not sign any agreement that will snatch away these feelings from our hearts. Please do not sell our nation; please do not take away our rights over our homeland from us. Please do not take away our right to exist as an independent nation. Please do not do anything that will compromise our sovereignity.

For if you do, our blood will rage, our souls would snap, our hearts will cry, our pride will crash and our nation would bleed in such pain.

I believe in our leaders to never do any thing that would hurt and harm our existance. I believe in people power that will rise like a tide to confront any threat that our nation may have to witness from any other power or nuclear power.

The sons , daughters , mothers , fathers, granmas and grandpas of Maldives who love their nation and its independence dearly will not sleep restful sleep until they get to know the facts about this gossip of handing over 25 islands, our seas and the sky to the Indian military for what ever purpose. Let us know what this is all about as soon as possible. Let us see the exact content of this agreement that is supposed to be signed by the defence minister of India when he visits Maldives later this week.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

i donno what to say! First of all, are indians nuts to take Maldives? don't they have enough problems of their own in the lands they call India.
Secondly, Aisha, do you really identify yourself with Maldives and do you really believe that its an independent nation. do you really think pride is really important? is there anything to identify yourself with otherthan the fact you happen to be born there? isn't this separatist, divisions of nations really the problem we have in this planet? doesn't this emotional attachment we have for things like country, family, religion obstruct the way of reasoning and thinking clearly?

I understand your love dear, but i think one needs to understand, although it might seem harmless, actually necessary (absolutely necessary)in todays culture, i think the patriotism is very premitive.

again, on the original context, why the heck would India want to get their hands on Maldives?

Simon said...

Hi Naaz,

The fact that you love your flag too much is no reason to dismiss the threat of Islamist terror groups establishing themselves on our islands. This is a serious issue and it is very real.

The terrorists have already arrived here. Think about it. 9 Dhivehin captured in Waziristan, 1 involved in the Mumbai attacks. We are not talking about Maldivians joining the circus here. This is very serious.

My question is this. Why are you silent about the invasion of extremism in to Dhiveh Raaje? If you love this country and this flag why are you not worried about this silent invasion and speaking against it? I find it to be a far more belligerent threat than one of our able SAARC giants giving us protection. Protection that we are terribly lacking, mind.

What say you?

Dr.Aishath Ali Naaz said...

Another interesting comment I received through facebook. Thought I will post it here too,for the benefit of all those Maldives loving, patriotic people who have been calling me and talking about this issue and nothing else.

'Its the hype that Indian media specially The Hindu has created. Their choice was words were a bit spicy. As you know the journalistic type.
The agreement that prez Nasheed's gv is signing with India is nothing new.
India will be deploying 2 helicopters in the Maldives or rather granting them to us and training our personnel how to operate them. This was requested by the former Defense Minister Mr. Ismail Shafeeu. and bout deploying radars on the 26 Atolls, the first rader was deployed under the previous gov in Addu.The very same project is being completed by this gov.
Therefore, there is nothing new and no hype to be created either by Indians or by Maldivians.

Reference:
Please read this 2006 article;
http://news.indiamart.com/news-analysis/fast-attack-naval-cr-12168.html

Indian Express article on the Indo-Maldives pact:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-bringing-maldives-into-its-security-net/501583/0

Hope this helps.

Dr.Aishath Ali Naaz said...

Dr. Shaheeds , what the foreign minister of Maldives has to say;
http://www.miadhu.com.mv/2009/08/local-news/mndf-in-charge-of-protecting-maldives-territory-fm/

Dr.Aishath Ali Naaz said...

Agree with you Simon, we have to address and deal with the threat of Islamist terror groups establishing themselves on our islands. However, I do not believe that the best way forward is signing such an agreement. If the threat is so huge and we have no other choice let peoples voices be heard, let this be discussed in the parliament, let the president come out and explain the facts, before binding our country to such a commitment as described in the so called hyped media reports.
May be we can accept the logic then.
Meanwhile, I have edited the content which may cause undue embarassement associated with too much love for the flag to my readers! hmmm.

Anonymous said...

I also find this newly found patriotism of some of the Maldivians a bit amusing. I have enough trust in the government not to 'sell' the country to India or any other power.

Don't you think if India were interested in taking over Maldives they could do it with impunity?

The threat of terrorism to Maldives is real and we cannot afford to take any chances with it. And the threat of terrorists using Maldives as a launchpad to attack India is also very real. The latter scenario will have far more serious implications for our sovereignty than a security agreement with India which are mutually beneficial.

The government is doing the right thing by making this security arrangement with India.

Some politicians and half baked journalists are sensationalizing this and misleading a gullible public.

Anonymous said...

I also find this newly found patriotism of some of the Maldivians a bit amusing. I have enough trust in the government not to 'sell' the country to India or any other power.

Don't you think if India were interested in taking over Maldives they could do it with impunity?

The threat of terrorism to Maldives is real and we cannot afford to take any chances with it. And the threat of terrorists using Maldives as a launchpad to attack India is also very real. The latter scenario will have far more serious implications for our sovereignty than a security agreement with India which are mutually beneficial.

The government is doing the right thing by making this security arrangement with India.

Some politicians and half baked journalists are sensationalizing this and misleading a gullible public.

Yaamyn said...

I find it hard to think The Hindu would 'spice up' its stories for cheap attention.

It is one of the best written and more sober newspapers, which still cares to retain a bit of journalistic ethic.

(Even their headlines are sober!)

Other papers like Times of India are irresponsible trash, and totally capable of building a tiny flame into a forest fire.

Mohd_XD said...

I don't understand the fact about being under "Protectorate" here... Maldives is a small country, maybe that's why we feel so dependent. I don't agree with that. Maybe its about a military agreement you were describing here. If Indians are so dependable, why would the Maldivian special force go train in Srilanka instead of India?

The Shadowrunner said...

I am pleased with this development.

"And so, history shall repeat itself again."

-

It seems that my psychopathic rants about India annexing us is turning true, by the way The Hindu keeps on blathering.

Excellent.

This is the first flash of lightning of a war that will plunge the whole of South Asia into an age of bloodshed.

Dr.Aishath Ali Naaz said...

Rest assured, our president has said that he will do nothing which will compromise our independence.So, we shall all sleep restful sleep now.
Thank you!

hashi said...

I'm glad this finally comes true..i even go further to say that we unite with India to have equal rights in the mainland. It's a great decision taken by the Maldives government to sign this pact. Indian military presence, surveillance and 10 radars will make this nation a very secure archipelago. Pretty soon Maldives will become vulnerable one way or another and this is a bold decision.

Anonymous said...

whatever little i know of india, india will never betray the trust of Maldives.The country that has always stood by us ,helped us in our of crisis cannot think of taking over.Remember India is the only true democracy and such an act will be unacceptable to even Indians.Who is today's worl would give US dollars 100 million when the maldives was in distress last year.the much promised help from IMF is still awaited and it will come with 1000 conditions.Maldives should make best of this opportunity and think of india as the destination for jobs and investments.It is one of the fastest growing economies of the world.And also dont go by the newspapers we see why they wriote the way they write and why our socalled leaders dont even thionk of tackling issues like radicalism seriously.One terrorist attack and the economy will be ruined..we need good freind and india has always rescued us.naseem