Political parties in Maldives condemn calls for attack on Indian mission

Political parties, including the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), have condemned  the call for an attack on the Indian High Commission in the capital Malé. The reaction came after a member of the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Abbas Adil Riza called for an arson attack on the mission in a tweet. In Dhivehi, he tweeted, “The 8th February arson attacks in Addu were carried out on India’s order. We haven’t retaliated to that yet. I propose we start from the Indian High Commission.”

Abbas was the Commissioner General of Customs during former President Yameen’s administration. Yameen’s government was seen as close to China and under him, ties with India deteriorated drastically. So far, three political parties of the Indian Ocean country have reacted.

The ruling MDP, which has over 60 seats in the Parliament or People’s Majlis condemned the call for arson attack and called for “authorities to investigate the matter” and criticised the “opposition’s continuous effort to incite violence & hatred towards friendly nations”

The Maldives Third-Way Democrats, which was the first political party to condemn the call for the attack, highlighted that “India is our closest neighbour & they are always there for the Maldives in every time we needed.”

Maldives Reform Movement asked, “authorities to investigate and take strong action against” the remarks, terming it as “hate speech”.

No official comments have come so far from opposition Progressive Party of Maldives, the party of Abbas Adil Riza.

The development comes even as the opposition in the country has been spearheading an anti-India campaign “India Out”. Earlier this year saw major disruption at the Yoga Day celebration organised by the Indian High Commission in Maldives, along with the country’s Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment and UN Maldives. The Maldives police had said that flags which were used to disrupt the event were provided by the opposition PPM.

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