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Nasheed declined India's offer to stall coup, says report

[email protected] (CD Network)
January 19, 2013
Male/New Delhi, Jan 19: Two Indian naval ships were cruising about 40 km off the Maldives coast on the morning of Feb 7, 2012, hours before then president Mohamed Nasheed was ousted from power. But he decided not to seek India's intervention, a Maldivian newspaper reported.

This has been revealed to a Maldives parliamentary panel by former defence minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu.nasheed

Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected president, did not want India to be involved in the day's dramatic and violent developments that saw him step down following opposition protests.

The then foreign minister Ahmed Naseem "had suggested that the Indian government would extend its assistance", Tholhath told the parliament's Government Accountability Committee that is reviewing an enquiry report into the "transfer of power" on Feb 7 last year, according to a report in the Haveeru daily, a leading newspaper in the Maldives.

"President said no. We cannot allow India to intervene in this matter. I will never agree to that. So it cannot be done," Haveeru quoted Tholhath as telling the panel. "Two ships were operating quite close, around 23 miles off Maldives. But the president was insistent. He didn't want to seek any assistance from India in the matter."

Then vice president Mohamed Waheed took over as president after Nasheed was made to step down.

Asked if the report about the presence of two Indian naval ships was true, an Indian external ministry official declined to respond. "We do not need to respond to anything that is being written," the official told IANS, and added "We will check the matter" of the naval ships.

Tholhath added that Nasheed was the one who knew that the Indian navy ships were in Maldivian territory, which could have been told to him by Naseem, the daily added.

When the parliamentary panel chair and Thoddoo constituency MP Ali Waheed asked him why the Indian ships were so close to Maldives, Tholhath said "I really don't know."

"I had no information on those ships. All I know is it was only on that morning I found out about those ships," he said.

"There was no confirmation that the ships were in fact so close to Maldives. I don't know any other details."

In response to a question of how to confirm the presence of the Indian ships on Feb 7, Tholhath said "the Maldives coast guard can verify it."

In August last year, the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI), constituted by the Maldives government to probe the "transfer of power" of Feb 7, said in its report that it was not a coup.

It also concluded that the transfer of power to Waheed was "legal and constitutional" and that Nasheed's resignation was voluntary without any coercion or intimidation.

Nasheed, who after his ouster visited various countries, such as the US and India, had claimed he had faced a threat to his life and that the power transfer was actually a coup.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

The Indian Defence Ministry, which had in its document that China intruded into the Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in early May, on August 6 took down the page which it had uploaded on its website.

According to a report by news channel NDTV, the ministry, in its document, had said the Chinese aggression has been "increasing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and more particularly in Galwan valley since May 5."

"The Chinese side has transgressed in the areas of Kungrang Nala, Gogra and north bank of Pangong Tso Lake on May 17-18," the document, titled 'Chinese Aggression on LAC' stated.

The document revealed that "... a violent face-off incident took place between the two sides on June 15, resulting in casualties on both sides."

After the clash, a second corps commander level meeting took place on June 22 to discuss the modalities of de-escalation. "While engagement and dialogue at military and diplomatic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus, the present standoff is likely to be prolonged," it said.

A defence ministry spokesperson told the news channel that the document "did not go through him".

The opposition Congress, meanwhile, asked the government why the report was taken down with party leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that removal of the document from websites would not change facts.

"Forget standing up to China, India's PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying China is in our territory and removing documents from websites won't change the facts," Gandhi tweeted.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Veteran Urdu poet Anand Mohan Zutshi 'Gulzar' Dehlvi passed away on Friday afternoon, five days after he recovered from COVID-19.

He died at his Noida home, and was a month shy of turning 94.

"His corona test came negative on June 7 and we brought him home. Today he had lunch and at around 2.30pm he passed away," his son Anoop Zutshi told PTI.

"He was quite old, and the infection had left him very weak. So doctors are thinking it was possible a cardiac arrest," he added.

A freedom fighter and a premier 'inquilabi' poet, Dehlvi was admitted to a private hospital on June 1 after testing positive for coronavirus.

Born in old Delhi's Gali Kashmeerian in 1926, he was also the editor of 'Science ki Duniya', the first Urdu science magazine published by the Government of India in 1975.

Remembering her fond memories of Dehlvi, historian-writer Rana Safvi recalled seeing the poet at most 'mushairas' in Delhi.

"I cannot express how big a loss it is. We used to see him at every 'mushaira' in Delhi. It's a big loss to Delhi and the world of poetry," Safvi said.

She also took to Twitter to express her condolences.

"Sad to hear about Gulzar Dehlvi saheb's demise. He was the quintessential Dilli waala. May he rest in peace," she tweeted.

According to Delhi-based poet and lawyer Saif Mahmood, Dehlvi was "the presiding bard of Delhi", following in the footsteps of iconic poets like Mirza Ghalib, and Mir Taqi Mir.

His death is the "end of an era", he said.

"No one knew the nooks and crannies of Mir and Ghalib's Delhi like him. Gulzar saheb claimed that his father, Allama Pandit Tribhuvan Nath Zutshi 'Zaar Dehlvi', was a disciple of the renowned poet Daagh Dehlvi," he said, while reminiscing his meeting with Dehlvi three years back.

The poet had recited a still unpublished 'sher' (couplet) then, Mahmood said, which seems more relevant now in the aftermath of his demise.

"Mere baad aane waalon, meri baat yaad rakhna/ mere naqsh-e-pa se behtar, koi raasta nahin hai". (Those who come after, remember what I say/ there’s no better way than to follow my footprints).

"He was a true exemplar of not just the Urdu language but also of the Urdu culture. In fact he was a living and breathing form of Urdu tehzeeb," Mahmood said.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.

Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the missive was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging otherwise.

Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Health Ministry Dr Rajiv Garg in the letter to the principal secretaries of health and medical education of states and Union territories said appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allotting timeslots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.

He underlined that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in Covid-19 wards and ICUs of various hospitals.

"Social connection can calm down patients and also reinforce the psychological support given by the treating team. Please instruct all concerned that they should allow smartphones and tablet devices in patient areas so that the patient can video conference with their family and friends," stated the letter issued on July 29.

"Though mobile phones are allowed in the wards to enable a patient stay in touch with his or her family, we received representations from the patient families from some states stating mobile phones are not being allowed by hospital administrations because of which they were not being able to stay in contact with the patient," said Dr Garg.

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