Saturday
4th May 2024
Dhivehi Edition
President Yameen
India Is A Large Country, But We Will Do Everything Possible To Defend The Maldives: Yameen
President Yameen. Photo: TMJ
Leader of the opposition, former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayyoom has stated that India is a large country, but that he would work to defend the Maldives regardless.
Speaking at a rally titled "Kotharukoshi" (i.e. "Pigeon-Cage") at the Carnival area in Male City, the former President Yameen had repeated his prior call for the Indian military to exit the Maldives immediately. He said that even though India was a large nation, he would do all that was possible to defend the Maldives. He also said that he would work to ensure that the Maldives remained under Maldivian rule.
"India is a large country", he had said. "But we will do whatever we can to protect our country. To make sure our country is ours".
Making a reference to Maldivian history, the former President had mentioned Minicoy. Minicoy is currently part of India's Lakshadweep union territory. He said that historically, Maldivian rule spanned from Minicoy to Addu.
"The Maldives was historically an island nation that spanned from Minicoy to Addu. When did we lose Minicoy, really? This is not an easy topic to speak on", he said.
He also mentioned that India had advised "caution" when his older brother, the former Speaker of the Citizens' Majlis, Abdullah Hameed had spoken about Minicoy.
He mentioned that what we had now had come through colonial powers. He clarified that his statements were not calls to reconquer Minicoy.
Minicoy is inhabited by people of the same ethnicity as Maldivians, and the language spoken on the island is a close dialect of the Maldives' official language. India has placed several restrictions on the development of relations between the Maldives and Minicoy. Maldivians cannot easily travel to Minicoy.
When the former President Nasheed had proposed that a ferry be placed between Minicoy and India, India's former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had opposed the proposal and had expressed his displeasure with it.