MEA flags NATO's double standards
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The external affairs ministry on Thursday cautioned against "double standards" while pushing back against the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ( NATO ) secretary general Mark Rutte's threat of possible secondary sanctions on India for maintaining trade ties with Russia."We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments. Let me reiterate that securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us," spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said during the weekly media briefing here. "In this endeavour, we are guided by what is available in the markets and also by prevailing global circumstances. We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter." MEA said it had been in "constant touch with local authorities" in Yemen and was providing "all possible assistance" in the case of Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse on death row in the West Asian country. "This is a sensitive matter and the Government of India has been offering all possible assistance," Jaiswal said. MEA said it had appointed a lawyer to assist Priya's family, arranged regular consular access and worked to secure more time to reach a "mutually agreeable solution" with the victim's family. The execution, scheduled for July 16, was postponed following these efforts, which included engagement with friendly foreign governments.
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First Post
a minute ago
- First Post
India–Maldives ties: Time to look to the future, not the past
Lately, President Muizzu has conceded Delhi as a loyal friend and is working closely with India for economic recovery, which is unlikely to happen without the Maldives helping itself read more President of the Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, right, shakes hand with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after signing a memorandum of understanding between the two countries in Male, Maldives, Friday, July 25, 2025. (Indian Prime Ministers Office via AP) At the end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to the Maldives, 25-26 July, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said it all in his post-talks news briefing. 'Together, the two sides were looking into the future, not the past,' he said. This was India's position even on a day-to-day basis when, as a freshly minted president, host Mohamed Muizzu bad-mouthed India as much as he could for any Maldivian leader on bilateral matters. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The visit was rich in optics—yes. From a public diplomacy perspective, it matters the most in both nations, especially now. The content of the visit was no less positive but was not flashy, as some in India especially had expected. At the end of their talks, Muizzu conceded at a news conference that India was a 'supportive, loyal friend'. It had taken him months to realise it and acknowledge it in public. In retrospect, it is safe to conclude that in his first weeks as president, and during his presidential poll campaign earlier, he was misinformed and misled by those around him. Share of blame Yet, Muizzu cannot absolve himself of the blame, as he already had six long years of experience as a senior minister for the all-important infrastructure development sector during the successive presidencies of Mohammed Waheed and Abdulla Yameen. He spent five years through Yameen's full term in office, during which time he was not known to have even squirmed at the president's anti-democracy initiatives. When Yameen launched his 'India Out' campaign while in the Opposition, Muizzu was seen in those rallies, though not all of them. In turn, this made Muizzu suspect in ordinary Indian eyes, as New Delhi too had reasons to brand Yameen as 'anti-India', more than for his being 'pro-China' or anything else. It was based on Yameen's perceptions about India in the context of Maldivian domestic politics. This is one area where Muizzu too could still trip if he does not take the India element out of his domestic political calculations. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This includes motivated domestic perceptions that India backs democratic forces in the archipelago, represented purportedly by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and that every other leader, including Muizzu, is an autocrat or despot. This domestic perception among all political players in the country is not supported by India's actions that are people-centric, not personality-centric. Greater legitimacy The Prime Minister was accompanied by a high-level team, which included External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. This indicated the level of engagement that accompanied the visit. Incidentally, the presence of NSA Doval was a lesser-known fact for the media in the two countries, but that does not necessarily mean that there were 'secret talks' on the security front, as often assumed. For optics, you had Muizzu receiving the prime minister personally at the Male airport, accompanied later at the official reception with a 21-gun salute, both of them unprecedented, and Modi's presence as the chief guest at the 60th Independence Day of Maldives. It was also the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomacy, as India was among the first nations to recognise the new Maldivian regime post-independence in 1965. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Locally, eyebrows were raised, yes, when President Muizzu addressed a joint rally of the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) and the Maldivian Police Service (MPS) on the afternoon of Independence Day, when the Indian visitor was still in town. This was the first time an incumbent president was addressing the two together after then-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom bifurcated the infamous National Security Service (NSS) in 2006, in the run-up to full democratisation through a new constitution and presidential elections in 2008. Looked at from a domestic angle, the Indian Prime Minister's visit, followed by that of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in double-quick succession (July 28-29), is not about his administration opening up to ever-supportive neighbours, which is the truth of the matter. Instead, the perception, starting from Camp Muizzu, is one of his acquiring international legitimacy after having stabilised his hold over domestic governance and politics, in that order. Third visitor, who? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Given the brutal majority that his People's National Congress (PNC) enjoys in the 93-member Parliament, there was no need for Muizzu to get an 'undemocratic' anti-defection law passed without debate. Nor was there any justification for the government-controlled Judicial Service Commission (JSC) suspending first and sacking three Justices of the Supreme Court when the full, seven-judge bench was set to hear a petition challenging the anti-defection law. Yet, he did both and initiated more such moves that critics claimed were 'anti-democratic'. It is in this context that critics see Muizzu's eagerness to have more foreign visitors on invitation, to tell his world that the international community stood by him. Hence, there is also speculation, if not betting, on who the 'lucky' third one would be after Modi and Anura to receive Muizzu's invitation to visit his country. New Delhi may not have any direct interest, least of all influence, in Muizzu's choice of the next couple of overseas Heads of State and/or Government visiting Maldives on invitation. Yet, India would be watching it all from the ringside to have a clear perspective of Muizzu's foreign, security, and overseas economic policies—not necessarily in that order. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Will the next visitor be the Chinese Prime Minister, if not President Xi Jinping, or Turkey's President Recep Erdogan? After all, Muizzu had courted both nations in his early weeks in office, and possibly before his election, too, and from whose shoulders he was firing (their?) anti-India salvos, too, before seeing their true colours, and tucked his tail between his legs without losing time or initiative. Credit and more On the constructive side, India and Maldives signed a total of eight agreements during Modi's visit, all of them discussed and debated threadbare in-house in the two governments and between them. The list includes one on a $565 million Line of Credit (LoC) from India and another on pharmaceutical supplies. This, in a way, is acknowledgement of the Muizzu Government's failure to obtain 'quality medicines at affordable prices' from Europe without depending on a 'single source' (India), as he had thumbed his chest last year. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Before the pharma deal now, Muizzu had gone back on his muscle-flexing on commissioning annual supplies of essentials, including rice, sugar, and wheat flour, from distant Turkey, again to limit dependence on a 'single source'. It happened after the Houthis' attacks in the Red Sea provided a legitimate excuse for Erdogan to possibly go back on his purported promise during Muizzu's visit only weeks after assuming office in November 2023. In Male, PM Modi also inaugurated multiple India-funded projects and handed over the keys to owners under a housing scheme. In a city with the highest population density for a South Asian capital, urban housing is still politically and electorally sensitive. Balanced FTA Of equal importance is one setting the terms of reference for further discussions on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Maldives. For now, Maldives especially has learnt a lot from the hurried FTA President Yameen signed with China in 2017 but whose implementation he and his successor, President Ibrahim 'Ibu' Solih, both did not take up. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Now, after implementing the China FTA since January 1 this year, Muizzu has found out that Maldives was losing scarce revenue, big time. Maldivians were spending dollars in big numbers, not only in conventional trade but also through online sales of Chinese goods, airlifted mostly out of Hong Kong. In recent months, this has affected small and medium traders in the country. They form a key electoral constituency. But then a 30 per cent service tax on specified online trade firms dealing in Chinese goods has not helped after the latter introduced equal discounts for their Maldivian customers. This would engage Indian negotiators as they work out the details of the Indian FTA in the coming weeks and months. They will also have another example in the Sri Lanka-Maldives FTA, which was signed during President Dissanayake's visit, post-Modi's. National dichotomy Maldives' woes owe to the nation living beyond its means. This has an indirect impact on national security and foreign policy that flows from over-dependence on external assistance. In the name of upholding national security and sovereignty viz the ever-helpful Indian neighbour, presidents like Yameen and Muizzu welcomed extra-regional powers, especially China. It only complicated the nation's security situation even more. They too silently acknowledged post facto that China had a larger scheme in which the Maldives was only a speck, and they could do nothing about it if sucked in more than ready. But domestic compulsions stood in the way of Yameen applying the correctives. With little choice after he found out that China, and also Turkey, did not match word with action, Muizzu at least is on a course correction viz India relations. Maldives' problems reside in the economic sphere. In a 500,000-population, half of whom are on the electoral list, first-time voters in their thousands are jobless. They tend to side with him who promises the moon. Frustration has already driven them to drugs, and the puritans among them tend to take to religious radicalisation—in the absence of any left political movement. Skill sets & FDI All these when available jobs, again in tens of thousands, are going to foreigners, mostly Bangladeshis but with a sizable sprinkling of Indians and some Sri Lankans, too. This is because local youth ambitions are not matched by skill sets that can attract big-ticket FDI in non-tourism sectors, too. Competitive populism is the bane. Every post-democracy president, including incumbent Muizzu, promised to set matters right but has been swept away by electoral compulsions. Going back to the days of 'elected autocracy' is not an option, but that is what successive post-democracy presidents have attempted in their own ways—but failed on both fronts. The people simply threw them out in favour of yet another untested individual, whose face was relatively fresh and whose promises looked beneficial. All of it often leads to situations wherein incumbent governments are tempted to fall back even more on external economic assistance, but in terms of 'competitive ideology', though none exists. Successful experience Muizzu is working closely with India for economic recovery that is unlikely to happen without Maldives helping itself. Given India's successful experience in pulling itself out of the fiscal/economic mess that it found itself in the early nineties, the Maldivian government, as a democracy, can also seek guidance in the matter, after downsizing them to Maldivian levels. In 2013, President Yameen's foreign policy document claimed that his government would make the nation economically strong to be able to have an 'independent foreign and security policy'. The reference was, of course, to India. He failed on the first count, so his government did not reach the second stage, despite his wooing China, as if the nation had a panacea for Maldives' ills. Muizzu began by placing himself in such a conundrum but has been quick to retrieve at least some of the lost ground. How he proceeds from here will decide the future for the Maldives and strategic peace for the region's nations, including India and Sri Lanka. That is where the Maldives' strategic reset should begin, where the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) could provide a basis for defining/redefining the nation's priorities in the present and the future. Such an approach alone can help the Maldives and Muizzu to achieve what they intend to achieve on the domestic front. That is without them having to invite and/or facilitate complex competitive competition between superpower America and wannabe superpower China, both of whom do not belong here but want to be here through proxies. The writer is a Chennai-based Policy Analyst & Political Commentator. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
India.com
a minute ago
- India.com
Nimisha Priya: Uncertainty Deepens Over Death Sentence In Yemen As MEA Refutes Overturn Claims
Uncertainty still besets the destiny of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who sits on death row in Yemen. Contradictory reports were heard on Monday, about the fate of her death sentence, keeping her family and supporters in limbo. Earlier on Monday, the office of Grand Mufti Abu Bakr Musliyar stated that Nimisha Priya's death penalty had been officially reversed, suggesting she would no longer be executed in Yemen. This news had briefly raised hopes for her release. But minutes after that, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) quickly denied the Grand Mufti's assertion. MEA sources explained that reports made about Nimisha Priya were "incorrect" and that the Grand Mufti was merely "mediating" in the matter. This MEA announcement threw Nimisha Priya's case back into uncertainty, asking whether her sentence is indeed overturned or if only its execution is suspended. Victim's Family Demands Execution Compounding the complexity, Abdul Fattah Mahdi, the sibling of the late Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi, for whom Nimisha Priya was found guilty of manslaughter, has openly called for Nimisha Priya's instant execution. Expressing himself on a social media page, Abdul Fattah posted a letter to Yemen's Attorney General, asserting that his family demands the instant application of the death sentence without any delay. As per the English portal Onmanorama, in his July 25 letter, he wrote that the order for the death sentence on Nimisha Priya had got the final nod from Yemen's Supreme Political Council. "This decision has now attained the status of a final and binding order. Hence, its implementation is obligatory under the law, and all concerned authorities have to implement it without delay," the letter had allegedly claimed. Abdul Fattah also refuted the Grand Mufti Abu Bakr Musliyar's claim of a meeting between Northern Yemeni authorities, an international delegation, and a group of Islamic clerics appointed by Sheikh Habib Omar bin Hafeez, which was supposedly aimed at overturning the death sentence. Nimisha Priya's execution was originally set for July 16 but was put off indefinitely after mediation by Indian religious leaders. Abdul Fattah had publicly denounced this postponement, declaring that his family "categorically rejected all reconciliation and mediation efforts, as the crime had crossed all boundaries." Grand Mufti's Claim And Family's Arrival Despite the victim's family's position, attempts to spare Nimisha Priya were said to be being made from the side of Grand Mufti Abu Bakr Musliyar. An announcement from the 94-year-old Grand Mufti's office had previously stated Nimisha Priya's death sentence, which was suspended before, had now been "completely cancelled" in a high-ranking meeting in Sanaa. Meanwhile, Michelle, 13-year-old daughter of Nimisha Priya, and her husband have reached Sanaa, Yemen's capital, along with a few mediators in the hopes of winning her release. Nimisha's daughter cried out emotionally, "I miss you Mommy. I love you very much, Mommy. Please help bring my mother home. I really want to meet her." Nimisha Priya, a 38-year-old Indian nurse from Kerala, traveled to Yemen in 2008 in search of improved job prospects. She was an employee at a government hospital. In 2017, she was charged and subsequently convicted of murdering Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi.
Scroll.in
a minute ago
- Scroll.in
Three terrorists linked to Pahalgam attack killed in Operation Mahadev, says Amit Shah
Three terrorists involved in the Pahalgam terror attack were killed in a security operation named Operation Mahadev on Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament on Tuesday. During a discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha, Shah said that the Indian Army, along with the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force, had 'neutralised the three terrorists who were involved in the attack'. On Monday, the Army said that three suspected militants had been killed in a gunfight with security forces in the Lidwas meadows of Srinagar's Dara area. On Tuesday, Shah claimed that all three killed, identified as Suleiman Shah, Afghan and Jibran, were members of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Union home minister said that the men were identified as having been involved in the Pahalgam attack by those who had provided them shelter. 'The people who used to supply food to them [terrorists] were detained earlier,' the Union home minister said on Tuesday. 'Once the bodies of these terrorists were brought to Srinagar, they were identified by those who were kept detained by our agencies.' In June, the National Investigation Agency arrested two men, Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, for allegedly harbouring the terrorists who carried out the attack. The terror attack at Baisaran near Pahalgam town in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 left 26 persons dead and 16 injured. The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those killed were Hindu. In response to the attack, India on May 7 launched military strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what New Delhi claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and eight defence personnel were killed in the shelling. India and Pakistan on May 10 reached an 'understanding' to halt firing following the conflict.
