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
April 23,2020

More and more Indians have become better prepared in the last one month, as far as stocking of their ration, medicine or money is concerned, according to the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker.

With the second leg of the lockdown half way through and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it's a long haul, 57.2% respondents said they have less than three weeks of stock while 43.3% said they have a stock that will last beyond that

However, if one breaks into weeks, most respondents said they are prepared for a week's time. 24.5% respondents said they have ration, medicine or money to last a week. This is closely followed by 21.9 % respondents saying they are ready for a month.

Meanwhile, 20.4 % said they are ready for a couple of weeks. There are 15.8 % who said they are ready for more than a month with food, ration and medicine. A tiny 5.6 % said they are ready with three weeks of stock.

However, there is 12.3% who still seem to live on the edge with less than a week's preparation.

But, the biggest takeaway from the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker is that in the last one month, a massive segment of society realised that the fight is long and the preparation should also be to last that long.

o put things into context, on March 16 when the tracker started, a whopping 77.1% said they have stock to last for less than a week. More than a month later on April 21, that number jumped to just 12.3%, which essentially means, people have become better prepared for a long-hauled lockdown period.

Similarly, on April 21, a sizable 21.9% respondents claimed they are ready with ration and medicine that will last them a month. On March 16, not even one respondent could claim they have a month's stock. In fact till March 22, just ahead of the announcement of the first lockdown, no respondent the IANS-CVoter tracker said that they have a month's preparation.

Similarly, when the tracker started, 9.9% said they simply ‘don't know'. As on April 21, that number is a big zero.

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News Network
March 25,2020

New Delhi, Mar 25: The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India rose to 562, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.
This includes 512 active cases, while 40 infected people have already been cured or discharged.
The Union Health Ministry said that total deaths due to the disease now stand at 9, as the second death reported in Delhi is COVID-19 negative. One patient has also migrated due to the infection.
The Central government has taken several steps to contain the rapid spread of the virus including the screening 15,24,266 passengers at the airports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.
In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Modi said that it is vital to break the chain of the disease and experts have said that at least 21 days are needed for it.
The Prime Minister, who had also addressed the nation last week, said the lockdown has drawn a "Lakshman Rekha" in every home and people should stay indoors for their own protection and for that of their families. 

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News Network
January 10,2020

New Delhi, Jan 10: The Supreme Court while hearing petitions challenging restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday stated that the right to access the internet is a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.

"It is no doubt that freedom of speech is an essential tool in a democratic setup. The freedom of Internet access is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution," a two-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana stated while reading out the judgment.

The top court said that Kashmir has seen a lot of violence and that it will try to maintain a balance between human rights and freedoms with the issue of security.

It also directed the Jammu and Kashmir administration to review the restrictive orders imposed in the region within a week. “The citizens should be provided highest security and liberty,” the apex court added.

The top court made observations and issued directions while pronouncing the verdict on a number of petitions challenging the restrictions and internet blockade imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.

The Supreme Court had on November 27 reserved the judgment on a batch of petitions challenging restrictions imposed on communication, media and telephone services in Jammu and Kashmir pursuant to revocation of Article 370.

The court heard the petitions filed by various petitioners including Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin.

The petitions were filed after the central government scrapped Article 370 in August and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Following this, phone lines and the internet were blocked in the region.

The government had, however, contended that it has progressively eased restrictions.

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