After Maldives moves bill to criminalise anti-India campaign, former president hails New Delhi ties

FORMER Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed, who is currently serving as the speaker of the island-nation’s parliament called the People’s Majlis, on Thursday (30) said that the country will have a major dependency on marital neighbour India in the future as well.

Speaking in the fifth episode of ‘Ask Speaker’ show the same day, Nasheed, who is known to be a pro-India voice, said India has been most helpful to the Maldives in the past and present, the country’s SunOnline International reported.

The speaker made the remark while responding to a query whether criminalising ‘India Out’ campaign in the country constitutes the right to freedom of speech, which he claims to back.

On this, Nasheed said that New Delhi has been a close friend of Male for a long time. Stressing that India has always stood behind the Maldives, the former president said the latter will have to be dependent on India in the future as well.

He also said that the right to freedom of speech should be exercised within limits.

“For an example, cannot make false remarks regarding the Islamic religion. In this trajectory, doing things that would disrupt diplomatic relations formed with foreign nations is not something which can be done under the pretense of freedom of speech,” he said.

A bill was recently submitted to the Maldivian parliament to amend the Penal Code to criminalise acts that are detrimental to the country’s diplomatic interests, such as the ‘India Out’ campaign.

According to the Maldivian government, the bill aims to codify acts that damage the island-nation’s diplomatic interests as a separate crime from crimes that related to public order, security and discipline declared on the Maldives’ Penal Code.

Recently, a high-profile yoga event backed by India in Male came under attack from Islamists, sparking an outrage. A political blame game broke out and the Ibrahim Mohamed Solih government made some arrests after promising a thorough probe.