(Online Desk)

India had cancelled a visit by a  special envoy of President of the Maldives, Abdulla Yameen, the Maldives Embassy said on Thursday.

This followed reports that that India had been ignored by the embattled government in Male, which has sent special envoys to “friendly nations” like China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to brief them on the political crisis.

“This is far from truth,” said a statement released by the Embassy of the Maldives in New Delhi. “The first stop of special envoy of the President was India. Foreign Minister of Maldives Dr. Mohamed Asim the designated Special envoy of the President was scheduled to be in India on 8th February 2018 but the visit was cancelled on the request of the Government of India. The Government of the Maldives was informed that the said dates were not suitable for India’s leadership. It is therefore grossly misleading to say that The Government of the Maldives was bypassing India.”

Maldives Ambassador to India Ahmed Mohamed journalists that "India was in fact the first stop planned and proposed for a visit of a special envoy of the president of Maldives. However, the dates proposed were not suitable for the Indian leadership…We are disappointed with India's position... We would want India to do even more than China... as we are neighbours."

According to reports from Male, Dr Asim left instead for Pakistan on Thursday, while the Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed left for China, and the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Dr. Mohamed Shainee is expected to visit Saudi Arabia.

While the Indian Ministry of external affairs maintained a stoic silence, sources said that apart from protocol and scheduling reasons, New Delhi was “deeply concerned” over Yameen’s  “high handed” refusal to address the concerns expressed “not just by India, but the UN and the international community.”

As for protocol, Male had not given adequate notice for Asim’s visit, and both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj were travelling. While Swaraj returns from Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves on a visit to Palestine, UAE and Oman on Friday.

Asim had earlier visited India on January 11, and met Modi and Swaraj, following which the MEA declared that “Special Envoy Asim reiterated the commitment of the Maldives to maintain close relations with India under Maldives’ India First policy. Mr. Modi affirmed that India would always be a reliable and close neighbour of Maldives supporting it in its progress and security.”

In other developments, the Indian Navy plans to launch a major exercise in the Arabian Sea about a week from now after having ended war games in the Bay of Bengal and the South Indian Ocean on Wednesday. The western command exercise is expected to last for about a month. The western naval command’s operational area of responsibility covers waters around the Maldives, the Seychelles and Mauritius. Three coastal radars set up in the Maldives by India are also networked with the Indian Navy’s information grid. The western naval command also monitors traffic in the North Arabian Sea covering the Strait of Hormuz and the Pakistani ports at Gwadar, which is being set up by the Chinese, and Karachi.

The new exercise, to be conducted by the western naval command headquartered in Bombay, would involve major platforms such as warships, submarines and aircraft just as ENCORE – the eastern command exercise had. While asserting that India has deep interest in the Maldives where the Chinese and the Saudi Arabians have been exploiting the archipelago commercially, strategists in New Delhi’s security establishment believe that physical intervention should not be considered till diplomacy has been exhausted. In 2009, India had shown interest in reviving an abandoned World War II Royal Air Force base at Gan in the island chain’s southernmost Addu Atoll, barely 1000 km from the US base at Diego Garcia.

Among the major objectives of Indian naval exercises in both the east and the west are monitoring of Chinese naval vessels that have been criss-crossing waters around the peninsula.

Next month, India is also scheduled to host an annual exercise in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands named Milan. Ships and representatives of around 23 navies in the Indian Ocean rim are expected for Milan 2018 that would be attended by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The chief of the Maldivian National Defence Forces, Major General Ahmed Shiyam, an alumnus of India’s National Defence College (NDC) has also been invited.