Senior figures of former President Mohamed Nasheed’s government have accused Indian High Commissioner Dnyaneshwar M Mulay of failing to pass critical information to the Indian government on February 7, as mutinying police and army officers joined opposition demonstrators to overthrow Nasheed’s presidency.
The allegations were published in India’s weekly current affairs and features magazine, Open, following Nasheed’s recent visit to India.
Former National Security Advisor Ameen Faisal told the magazine that he was “surprised” that Mulay was in the company of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s half-brother, Abdulla Yameen, during the upheaval, and made no attempt to contact the elected government.
“I believe that proper information was not passed on to Indian authorities,” Faisal alleged, to Open.
“I was surprised that instead of contacting us, the government [of the Maldives], Mulay was having a discussion with opposition party leaders like Yameen in the Indian High Commission, when the coup was happening. In a situation like this, why call the opposition and not establish contact with the government? Before this happened, I never suspected [any conspiracy]. We were very close,” he said.
“I maintained a close relationship with Mulay. I called him three or four times while the coup was underway. I could not contact President Nasheed. At that point, he was inside the army headquarters and his phone was jammed. I spoke to Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem, instead, for his advice on seeking Indian intervention to control the situation. He told me that President Nasheed did not want any military intervention as it was an ‘internal matter’,” Faisal recalled.
“Later, Naseem called me to request some assistance from India. As the national security advisor, I called up Mulay and sought Indian assistance… He asked me to ask the foreign minister to send a note. I told Mulay that this was no time to be sending notes or love letters.”
Mulay, Faisal contended, “could see what was happening from his window. The whole coup was being telecast live. As a diplomat, he should’ve known that the whole country was in chaos.”
Faisal further claimed that Mulay had earlier informed him that the Indian Navy vessel INS Suvarna was in Maldivian waters three days before the events of February 7, and departed that morning. Open independently confirmed the presence of the vessel in Maldivian waters on that date.
“If the Indian Naval ship was just an hour away, it was in our territorial waters, why was the [Maldives] government not informed of it? What was the Indian naval ship doing there?” Faisal alleged.
Open observed that former President Nasheed appeared careful not to go on record with any allegations himself – and instead deferred to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) interim Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, “to speak on my behalf”.
“[Mulay] became so powerful that he started behaving like the prime minister and not a high commissioner. In early 2011, we felt that Mulay was drifting away from the MDP. He wanted to meet leaders of opposition parties. He wanted to be invited to all official functions that took place in Maldives. He was invited to many government functions, but not all. We found that a lot of companies were coming [to the country] for business through Mulay. We were floating tenders for big projects. He would act like a middleman,” Manik alleged to Open.
“Mulay would visit various [Maldivian] islands with his Indian friends, many of them businessmen. The government did not know who they were. Mulay has good connections with opposition parties, particularly Gayoom’s party,” he further claimed.
Manik also alleged that Yameen was present in Mulay’s office on the morning of February 7, while outside, a group of opposition supporters had joined police in an all-out assault on the country’s main military base in Republic Square. A second group broke down the gates of the state broadcaster, and took over the station. President Nasheed subsequently resigned, later alleging this was under duress.
“How many times did Mulay try to talk to somebody in the Government of India when all this was going on? How many times did Mulay call the Indian Government to ask them to intervene? There are 30,000 Indians living here and Indian business interests are at stake. He should have informed the Indian authorities. There is something fishy about Mulay’s response,” Manik told Open.
Open sought response from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, which did not address the allegations, but instead expressed “full confidence” in Mulay.
“The alleged references to the High Commissioner’s conduct in some media interactions by former President Nasheed were raised during his discussions with Indian officials,” noted MEA Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
“Former President [Nasheed] had clarified that he had not said the things attributed to him in the media. He said that he had known the High Commissioner for three years. The High Commissioner was a poet and he liked him. There were never any issues with the High Commissioner and he would clarify this to the media appropriately,” Akbaruddin claimed.
“We do not think it is appropriate to bring our High Commissioner into the discourse. He enjoys our full confidence.”
Speaking to Minivan News, Mulay declined to comment on the specific allegations, “as my government has already responded”, but described them as “completely baseless, a flight of fancy.”
Yameen confirmed to Minivan News that he had met with Mulay on the morning of February 7.
“It was Mulay who SMSed me and asked me to come and discuss the national crisis,” he said. “Mulay asked me to get a checklist of demands [from the protesters] and try to see if there could be a three-day respite.”
Asked why he believed Mulay had contacted him, Yameen said he believed it was “because PPM was the largest opposition party [at the time].”
Additional allegations made by Manik and published in Open, that Yameen had “ transferred several thousand US dollars from Colombo to some army and police officials by way of travellers’ cheques”. However Yameen dismissed the allegations as “absolute gibberish.”
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Right... er...so now the baaghee is Mulay?
Faisal, this report is crazy shit. Mulay was with MDP president too and Anni himself spoke to opposition leader Yameen. Instead of calling president of India Anni called Yameen. This time you did not get enough time to playout with cops. dhen lalala
this is the problem with some of hardcore MDP people. Anni and his gangs will label any one who is not in agreement with them as a traitor. You guys need to learn to digest and accept the political difference and differences in opinion.
You all have failed because of this stubborn attitude and you guys failed to keep and maintain our democracy and you do not know what a democracy is.
Now you may have to wait till 2013 and i doubt that you guys can win the election.
We had 5 different election since 7th Feb. and MDP was never able to win any of those election . Those people who have voted against MDP are also Maldivian too. But you are claiming only handful of people are supporting this change and entire Maldives is with MDP.
I do not understand why MDP can not win those bi-elections if the entire Maldives is behind Saikh ANNI. the dictators.
Reports emerging from the All Party Talks lead us to believe there is much confusion and disagreement in the Baaghee ranks. DRP did not turn up, PPM walked out and the validity of the MDP as a political party was raised as yet another lame excuse to drag party talks. Wishful thinking I know, but such is the intensity of panic that this latest Indian connection will add a real spark to the whole affair of this coup de'tat! Thriller!
bottom line, India (aka the country which never invaded any other country in her entire history) is having a shit lot of influence on our internal matters... oh well...
Anni is cooking some story everyday... I wonder what he would say tomorrow... At some stage he might blame his wife for the so-called coup..
@mode on Sat, 5th May 2012 6:43 PM
"You guys need to learn to digest and accept the political difference and differences in opinion."
Sure, we are all for that.
"... if the entire Maldives is behind Saikh ANNI. the dictators."
You can't even practice what you preached five sentences ago! Take a good look at oneself, before preaching others...
How many twists and turns is this story taking? Every time Anni or sum1 from MDP opens their mouths to give an explanation about February 7th a new story comes out! First the baaghee was Waheed! then none but Maumoon (the final version)! The most recent was that it was the defence minister Nazim!
Now Mulay is the baaghee and conspired to topple Anni's regime wit Yameen! Damn! Keep your mouths shut will you! We are tired of your theories now!
India tops the world ranking of most corrupt countries in the world. Everybody knows that Indian politicians in particular can be bought ... phew, too clear, too obvious ... thanks big brother India ... perhaps you were afraid for the Muslims in your own country ?
I attribute this to typical Indian incompetence caused by the neutro-systemic inefficiencies concomitant to Polytheistic worship - rather than malevolent design.
I urge Indian civil serveants to embrace the Tahweed and submit to Allah; it will benefit them much in their performance. Alhamdulillaah!
Its nice to hear that Mulay contacted Hallf brother of Gayyoom who looted the madivians and their wealth and the Aid given by the donor contries, but not the democraticaly ellectec Govement of Maldives during the crisis.
Why should Muley call Yameen when all hell is breaking loose. Yameen is showing Muley as his alibi to show he had nothing to do with the coup. Something fishy is going on here. A lot of things will come to the surface on how this change of government took place, and the foreign hands behind it.
DH you are a boring idiot!
@Rania
The wise do not seek to entertain. I am a scholar, and my task is to convey the truth, however dull you may find it.
The same group of sponsored comments trying to white wash the coup and protect Yamin, just read what is on this page.
This is watered down.... What about the bribes and the property deal as well?
Again, confirmation of Yameen funding this dirty coup with the money he stole from the nation.
Mohm Shiraz on Sat, 5th May 2012 8:15 PM: India tops the world ranking of most corrupt countries in the world
You should get your head out of your arse and start listening to the true facts. Maldives scored 2.5 in the CP Index 2011, India scored 3.1. Countries are graded 0-10 0 being the most corrupt. The fact is it is Muslim countries that fall to the bottom of the table because culturally your alligance is to yoru families first and your countries second, which means you will give a government contract to a family member before giving to the company who will get the job done cost effectively and correctly.
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2011/results/
This guy was paid off by yaameen.
That Muley was a BAAGHEE BAAGHEE Idoit on our land please get him out of this country
The entire coup was an INDIAN and AMERICAN/HILARY CLINTON- CONSPIRACY to get their CLAWS into Maldives .The trick is; 1st; both, INDIA AND UNITED STRAITS! GET comfy with the opposition; AND THEN, they help rioters to de-stabilise governments. The US and INDIA are the WORST terrorists/TRAITORS OF HUMANITY, the world has ever seen. They PRETEND to help; WHAT THEY CREATED. LIKEWISE; INDIA FUNDED A TERRORIST(TAMIL TERRORIST) INVASION OF MALDIVES; AND THEN CAME FOR THE RESCUE )F MALDIVES AND SHOT THEM(TERRORISTS) DOWN. EVERYBODY KNOWS; INDIA PROMISED THE TERRORIST LEADER/UMA MAHESHWAREN GLAD TIDINGS TO DO THAT.THERE MUST BE INDIAN TERROR CELLS IN THE COUNTRY. THAT MUST INCLUDE TAMIL TERRORISTS WHO ESCAPED from northern Sri Lanka when the war was on. These terrorists are bound to help india.PRESIDENT NASHEED SHOULD NOT TRUST INDIA. INDIA IS NOT A FRIEND; BUT AN ENEMY-STATE; THE WAY THEY GO ON BEHAVING. Let's hope that India gets their own fair share of internal troubles; that IT(India) has NO Energy to Boss and Intimdate little countries who mind their own business
Whatever happened on February 7th was watched and seen by the people as it was telecast live....people have seen National TV Station gate broken by the Security forces with some thugs (paateys) before President Nasheed spoke on TV that day.
Mulay is a person who loves MONEY more than he loves India and the Indians. Yameen is a same type of person. The only difference is Yameen is from the Maldives and Mulay is from India, that's all......Mulay & Yameen shall taste their actions soon, Insha Allah
DH you are also intolerably irritating.
Aha ! So Ameen Faisal is admitting that he asked for "Indian assistance" in the matter. More specifically, he had been asking for Indian Military to intervene in order to fight our Maldives Police Service and Maldives Defence Forces.
Wake up Maldivians ! If Ameen Faisal can ask help from foreigners to fight our Maldivian people, this shows the depths that MDP will stoop to ! Anni keeps saying that he did not want to use force against Maldivians on Feb 07, he did not want to use force against Maldivians.
But the above statements of Ameen Faisal show that he and Foreign Minister Naseem did indeed want to use force, and that was why they contacted Indian military assistance. They wanted Indian military to come to Maldives, supress our Police services and our MNDF with force so that the protest by the Police could be dispersed. If the Indian military had come, they would have come with the full force with live weapons and their Navy.
Thank god that India didnt send military to combat Maldives police. If things had gone out the way Ameen Faisal had envisioned, then a lot of Police and MNDF officers as well as ordinary Maldivian civilians would have died on February 07 of 2012.
As a Maldivian, I am thankful for the Indian Government's insight, and Mulays quick thinking which halted the Indian military from coming to Maldives.
Growing up we always used to learn in school that Nov3 was the day that Maldives police achieved victory over our invaders. I think Feb7 too, should be remembered as such a day, when our military defended our nation, and prevented bloodshed.
How old were you, Maldivian Citizen on Nov3 1988? Clearly not old enough to remember.
Yes there were heroes, who died for us, and we will forever be grateful to them and their families. But dont make out OUR military was what saved us.
It was the Indians who saved us.
It is heartening to see that majority of the readers here see what this Open article really is; a blatant and shameless lie. If you read about Open Magazine, you will see that it is a relatively obscure publication, recently launched.
All obscure publications need to make a splash for publicity. It is sad that Open magazine seeks to do this at the expense of the dignity of a long time friend to Maldives. It undermines the credibility of a magazine to publish fanciful opinions as fact without caring about the ground realities of Maldives.
News today, forgotten tomorrow; that is all Maldives is for them.
Closest possibility may be to somewhat like @Lanka Ashford has written here!
India can never allow any super power to reign within the Indian Ocean.
They are helpless with the one at Diego Garcia!
It is not possible to think that it is possible for Mulay to wag his tail to anyone, without a nod from the Indian Foreign Ministry!
Looks like Mulay has a lot of questions to answer and this coup has very deep roots!
Minivan,
sorry guys, lots of typos went off before a spelling check ... . I wonder if thats what happened to Shad when he sent that letter to the Court withdrawing the case against Riyaaz Rasheed.??
@ Mode
These islands you talk about are islands dominated by Gayoom supported island chiefs, and their associates, bought by Gayoom patronage for 30 years.
I suggest you look at the number of votes the people of those islands gave to an MDP candidate in the Presidential elections, the parliamentary elections and the council elections.
You will find the number of votes increasing every time.
Which is why we have a coup. There has been rising panic about the very real possibility of Nasheed winning the next election. That is why he was removed, so he won’t get the credit of anything that is done in the last 2 years before election. We Maldivians have very short memories. The hope was that people will forget.
That, Mode was the miscalculation and the demise of the coup leaders.
The people have not forgotten. The coup leaders were three years too late. Not for lack of trying though, we understand several attempts were made to remove Nasheed, one way or the other.
They had to finally use the uniformed forces to do that.
I find almost pathetic the spin efforts of the new administration and the blunders they are making as they fall over themselves.
Shall I name a few?
1. Hiring a PR firm that organised a conference to slander Islam , to promote the Israel airline El Al which by the way, MPS have now banned from landing in the Maldives, and whose founder has openly acknowledged that the firm is firmly focussed on promoting Israel and the Jewish people,
2. Tourism Ministers ridiculous statements that climate change is an illusion and made up story
3. The Vice President living in an island that sells alcohol and pork?
4. Hassan Saeed forgetting to sue Dr Waheed for staying in Hilaaleege… ahem ..didn’t he say that presidents have to live in Theemuge?
5. Hassan Saeed's position that we have coup, a very unique coup lol
6. Allowing the resort owners to pay rent in instalments and thus causing the deficit…
I will save the rest for later.
Mode, smell the air, … there a fresh breeze over us ,and its woken us up.
Whatever crap happened on Feb 7, is not because someone called Mulay did not do something or should have done other things! Engay...!
The Indian High Com is more an observer than a political player. Let us clean and fix our own crap and move on in life Engay!
@ Isse,
If it had not been the courage of our MNDF soldiers in fighting back and counter-attacking the rebels who had tried to takeover the MNDF headquarters the rebels would have been able to takeover the MNDF headquarters. If that had happened, the then president would have to have bow down to the rebels demands, and surrender our nation to the rebels.
Are u trying to downplay the actions of the heroic Maldivians who laid down their lives to protect the independence and sovereignty which we maldivians today are able to enjoy ? Clearly you have rotted to the core. You are blinded in your hate against our police and our army personnel that you mock the very people who sacrificed their lives so that scum like you would be able to live on sovereign Maldivian soil today. People like you make me sick. Criticizing the actions of our nations defense forces. If it had been a coward like you guarding the main gate of MNDF when the rebels had invaded, then you would have dug a hole in the earth, jumped into it and hid there.
The Indian Navy intercepted the rebels on the ocean, while the rebels were trying to flee back.
That day a lot of people, a lot of Maldivians died during the battle.
People like you make me sick, trying to distort the facts so as to achieve your pathetic political objectives and demean the actions of courageous Maldivians who fought.
..there is no smoke without fire
The story seems to be a biased one. Mr. Mulay has played a great role towards strengthening the bilateral relations in trade, tourism, economic, education, art, culture and so many others. I believe the coup was an outcome of Maldives political internal issues. I am unable to understand how come Mr. Mulay be held responsible for this? I believe he is one of the most cultured, responsible and respected foreign service officers. I read that he put his all efforts in development of Maldives. In a longer relation between two countries, this news has no relevance. I totally disagree..
The Indians were right in not intervening.This was an internal matter. The main reason why Nasheed refused the military assistance was that MNDF told him that any foreign intervention in a domestic matter could be taken as an invasion of Maldives.
This was no foreign force attacking Maldives like in November 3rd.
This was the Police and the public of Maldives.
Mullay is an experienced diplomat and he is not going to make basic mistakes like phoning and asking for military intervention unless he gets it in writing.
Thank you , High Commisoner Mulay and Indian Goverment. You did a right thing by not interfering internal matter of a neighbouring Country. As far as I know India is a true friend of Maldives and resposible neighbour.
that muley culprit destroyed our nation
if he was an observer what was he doing during the coup. dish washing with yameen? or ????
Mr. Mulay has served the world as IFS officer for more than 25-28 years. We Indians do not have any doubt about his successful leadership as an Ambassador. This is always proved throughout the countries he served as well as in Maldives.
It seems that the article is entirly misleading the people. I am sure that Indians and Maldivians, both are wellknown about Mr. Mulay's role in strengthening the relationship between India and Maldives. Why is an experienced, cultured and highly respected ambassador like Mr. Mulay held responsible for this issue? Both the countries have eye-witnessed Mr. Mulay doing great work for developing the contacts between India and Maldives.
During Mr. Mulay's tennure, Mr. Nasheed's had visited india several times in last 3 years. Also I beleieve most of the maldivian cabinet visited India many times in his tennure.
Mr. Mulay has also played a phenomenal role during SAARC and bilateral visits by Indian Prime Minister in November 2011. Surely this has happened for the 1st time after 2002. He was the key person always to bring the government to government credits up.
Besides Mr. Mulay is highly respected and welknown writter & poet among all Indians (From students to senior citizens). He has always passed the Maldives natural beauty through his writtings, articles and poems in newspapers. This has strongly helped to triple the tourism in last 3 years.
The political ambitions of local politicians is the root cause of entire issue. Why Mr Mulay is hold responsible? It is just useless to pull Mr. Mulay in the Coup Matter.
This article is biased one .India knows Mr. Muley as a good IFS officer since last 25 years & He has got good repute through out the world . He has served his best in Maldives also. During Mr. Mulay's tennure Mr Nasheed had visited india 5 times in last 3 years.The strategic , economic , cultural ,educational and health sector relations have grown tremendously under his leadership (tourism has tripled in 3 years ,trade has doubled ,investments have gone up by 20 times and government to government credit lines and grants have grown 10 times. First time after 2002, India PM has visited Maldives in his tennure only . Then , how we can suspect him ? I dont find any point in above article .
Please dont mislead the people.
( Besides ,Mr .Muley is one of the prominant and highly respected writers of India.He has alwayes conveyed the Maldives beauty through his writtings to India.)
Lanka Ashford, you are yet another India hating retard.....maybe its because India is everything you aspire to be and are not.....secular, free, democratic and with a booming economy.
Why would India try to get its 'claws into Maldives'?.....what exactly does Maldives have that is of any interest to India?
You have the population and economy of a suburb on Delhi.....you are politically unstable.....you have just deposed a democratically elected leader.....you are bankrupt.....and you have the stupidest laws in South Asia!!.....flogging women in public and denying Maldivians freedom of worship in the twenty first century is so regressive.
Next you'll be saying India is trying to get its 'claws into Pakistan'.
I think you are a citizen of the afore mentioned failed state.....please put your own violent and dysfunctional country in order before lecturing others.
You should meet up with the other islamist retard on this site.....Ayatollah Dhivehi Hangyourself.....he shares your sicko islamist ideology.....Maybe you dumbass morons should get together for tea and samosas and a little chinwag on how to turn the world into the perfect islamic caliphate.
Ours is a pure Islamic country. Women should stay home must wear Burkha, should not be educated. Any Muslim woman should be banned from commenting on Minivan, like Lanka should be garroted on the spot.
We must obey what Sheikh and Dwivedhi preach.
We have been betrayed by the indian politician the ambassador for Maldives stupid guy, please don't write nonsense to convince us we know well what he did and doing even now. but history will return we will see one day the indians will need our support no matter we are small and few in number
i bet manmohan singh will be discovered as the next bodu baagee
@maumoon i am a Maldivian, you know that it highly unlikely (if not impossible) that a time will come when India will need our help. Going around accusing foreign Ambassadors of conspiracy without any proof is the last thing we need. now if some one from your so called "baghee" group says something negative about Common Wealth or any other pro MDP foreign or international ORG. MDP supporters will react in a total different manner. so please Supporters of "BOTH" sides "THINK" before you go around accusing people of things. don't believe just because some MP or a leader of some party from your side says so. see if their is any proof to it.
Everyone seems to be talking to yameen. Anni, Didi,other MDP leaders, Gasim, Muley, Indian Gov, USA gov, Chinese Gov........
on a serious note: even anni spoke to yameen. so anni too is a baghee right...!!!!