Friday
26th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
President Solih
Solih Govt Officials Send Condolences On Death Of War Crime Enabling Indian Army Boss
President Solih and Bipin Rawat
The officials of the Solih administration have expressed their condolences on the sudden death of India's defence chief, General Bipin Rawat. General Rawat had had a long history of enabling and encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had tweeted that he was "saddened to hear of [his] tragic passing". He said that General Rawat had been "a true soldier who put service to his nation above all else". Maldivian Defence Minister Mariya Didi had described General Rawat as "a good friend".
General Rawat and his wife and 11 other people were killed after the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed in Tamil Nadu. Defence Minister Mariya had said that the "tragic news" had left her "deeply shocked". She described General Rawat as a person who had "worked hard to further [Maldives-India] Defence Partnership".
General Rawat had travelled to the Maldives in the past year. The final arrangements of the Uthuru Thila Falhu agreement had been made during General Rawat's visit. The Uthuru Thila Falhu agreement had bypassed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Citizen's Majlis and had been signed between the Ministry of Defence and the Indian government in February 2021.
General Rawat had been instrumental in the stationing of the Indian military in the Maldives.
General Rawat had a long history of enabling and encouraging war crimes.
For instance, General Rawat had awarded an Indian officer who had used a Kashmiri man by tying him to the front of an Indian army vehicle. The officer had been awarded for his "sustained efforts" on counter-insurgency, and General Rawat had called the officer's decision an "innovation" in a "dirty war". General Rawat is quoted stating that he had granted the award to boost morale of the Indian soldiers in Kashmir.
The use of human shields is defined as a war crime by the General Convention.
He is also quoted as thus: "In fact, I wish these people, instead of throwing stones at us, were firing weapons at us. Then I would have been happy. Then I could do what I [want to do]".
General Rawat had also admitted to the existence of "deradicalisation camps" in India. He had said that "Girls and boys as young as 10-12 are now being radicalised". "These people can still be isolated from radicalisation in a gradual way," said General Rawat. "But there are people who have been completely radicalised. These people need to be taken out separately and possibly taken into some deradicalisaiton camps."
“We have deradicalisation camps going on in our country”, he had said.
Although he had never admitted to it, General Rawat had been much criticised for his closeness with India's right-wing ruling party, the BJP. Many of his critics had described his statements as breaking with the Indian military's stance of remaining "apolitical".
General Rawat had once described the increasing popularity of the Muslim-dominated All India United Democratic Front party in Assam as a national security threat.