India has strongly rejected claims made in a US Media Reports (Washington Post) that the opposition in the Maldives approached New Delhi with a demand for $6 million to stage an impeachment against President Mohamed Muizzu. Addressing the weekly press briefing on Friday (3rd January), the Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the allegations as “baseless and without credibility,” accusing both the newspaper and the journalist behind the report of harboring “a compulsive hostility towards India.”
“These articles published by the Washington Post—one on the Maldives and the other concerning Pakistan—show a pattern of hostility towards India,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during the weekly briefing. “I leave it to you to judge their credibility. As far as we are concerned, they have none.”
The report had brazenly claimed that the Maldivian opposition politicians had allegedly suggested bribing 40 lawmakers, including the members of the party of the President Muizzu, into an impeachment proposal. The source of the information was reported in an internal paper called Democratic Renewal Initiative. In addition to this, a senior R&AW officer is said to have “explored” plans of overthrowing the President Muizzu months after he had come to power.
The claims have been dismissed by former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, who leads the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). Nasheed denied any “serious plot” against President Muizzu and mentioned that India had always been in favor of democratic values. “India has consistently supported democratic values and would never resort to such actions,” said Nasheed.
Claims of Covert Operations in Pakistan
The Washington Post had also alleged that India was conducting surreptitious activities in Pakistan and targeting terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad. In response, the MEA issued a veiled threat in the form of a warning about harboring terrorism.
Quoting former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Jaiswal said, “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbors.” This reflected the concerns of India regarding the lingering threat of the terrorist groups from Pakistani soil.
India’s stiff response reflects a dismissal of these reports’ credibility while reasserting its position against terrorism and support for democratic values in its neighborhood.
Beside this the Government of India has also condemned the attempt China recently undertook in order to legitimize her occupation, an Indian sovereignty assertion was clearly done and also conveyed India’s outright refusal at MEA by renewing claims India keeps having concerned their sovereignty of sovereignty in this portion.
🚨 BREAKING :
India lodges STRONG protest with China over Beijing establishing new counties in the area covering ‘Aksai Chin’.
MEA: “Parts of jurisdiction of these so-called counties fall in India’s Union Territory of Ladakh.” 🎯 pic.twitter.com/lv1I0W7mp3
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) January 3, 2025
Slamming China’s prepostrous move in Aksai Chin, an Indian territory occupied by China, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have seen the announcement pertaining to the establishment of two new counties in Hotan Prefecture of China. Parts of the jurisdiction of these so-called counties fall in India’s Union Territory of Ladakh.”
He further added, “We have never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area. Creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India’s long-standing and consistent position regarding our sovereignty over the area nor lend legitimacy to China’s illegal and forcible occupation of the same. We have lodged a solemn protest with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels.”
The Chinese government recently issued a statement announcing the establishment of He’an County and Hekang County as administered components of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang. According to reports, one such county includes most of the 38,000 square kilometers of Indian territory illegally occupied by Beijing.
