President Mohammed Muizzu’s party, which ran the India Out campaign in Maldives, won the parliamentary elections on April 21.
The Muizzu government of Maldives has supported Palestine in the Israel-Gaza war. The government has decided to ban Israeli passports by changing the passport rules in the country. After the decision comes into effect, Israeli citizens will not be able to enter Maldives.
On Sunday (June 2), Maldives Home Minister Ali Ihussan said that it has been decided to make legal amendments to ban Israeli passport holders from entering Maldives. The cabinet has also formed a special committee to expedite the process. This committee includes senior officials and leaders of the country.
Apart from this, the cabinet has also decided to raise funds for Palestinians and discuss with Muslim countries to support Palestine. Also, a ‘Maldives with Palestine’ rally will be organized. Home Minister Ali Ihusan said – Our aim is to show solidarity with Palestine.
Israel carried out an airstrike in Rafah on 25 May. 45 people were killed in this. Many countries condemned this Israeli attack. After this, Maldives has decided to ban Israeli citizens.
Protests against Israel have been going on in Male for 1 month.
In fact, people have been protesting on the streets of Male, the capital of Maldives, for about a month against Israeli attacks in Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories. The people of Maldives have been demanding for a long time to ban the entry of Israeli citizens into the country.
Every year 15 thousand Israeli tourists visit Maldives.
Every year more than one million tourists from different countries visit Maldives, out of which 15 thousand tourists are Israeli citizens. The economy of Maldives also depends on tourism, despite this Maldives has banned the entry of Israeli citizens.
The issue was raised in ICJ at the behest of South Africa.
Before Maldives, South Africa had taken an important decision regarding the Israel-Gaza war. South Africa had asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to initiate legal action against Israel. ICJ had also issued a temporary order to stop violent actions against Palestinians in Gaza.
In the 8-month-long war,
on 7 October 2023, Hamas took about 234 people hostage to Gaza in the attacks on Israel. So far, there has been a ceasefire between the two sides only once from 24-30 November. Then Hamas and the Israeli army stopped attacks for 7 days. During this time, about 107 hostages were released.
How India’s relations with Maldives deteriorated after Muizzu came to power
Muizzu had already tarnished his image in India by running the ‘India Out’ campaign during the Maldives presidential election. The rest of the work was completed by his 3 ministers. Actually, PM Modi went on a tour of Lakshadweep on January 4. During this, he praised the beauty of Lakshadweep. He also shared a video of this trip on social media.
People commented on this and said that it is better to go to Lakshadweep instead of spending lakhs of rupees to go to Maldives. This angered the ministers and leaders of Maldives. The women minister there, Mariam Shiuna, deputy ministers Abdullah Mahjoom Majid and Malsha Sharif made objectionable comments about PM Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep.
In protest against this, the hashtag BoycottMaldives started trending on social media. Taking action in the matter, Maldives suspended all three ministers. Meanwhile, Muizzu went on a tour of China. Whereas it usually happens that after becoming the President, the Maldives leader visits India. After returning from there, Muizzu said that no country can threaten him.
Muizzu appealed to the Chinese people to visit his country to support Maldives. After this, Maldives also ended the hydrographic survey agreement with India.
The dispute with India affected the tourism sector of Maldives. According to statistics, the number of Indians visiting Maldives has declined by 40% in the last 5 months. However, the Foreign Minister of Maldives believes that this is the effect of the election season in India and Maldives. With time, Indian tourists will start visiting Maldives again.
