On India’s insistence Maldives has removed a twitter account in the name of ultra-Islamist Adhaalath Party, that spearheaded the campaign against the GMR’s airport contract, for spouting racist remarks and threats against New Delhi and its high commission in Male.
A member of the ruling coalition, the Adhaalath Party, and its leader Imran Abdulla, had been at the forefront of the ‘National movement’, which had spearheaded the campaign to cancel the 25-year contract of the Indian infra group GMR to operate and develop the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) in Male.
The contract was called off in late November, straining ties between India and Maldives and is currently the bone of contention in an arbitration process in Singapore.
In fact, the original complaint by the Indian High Commission was made to the Commissioner of Police and Maldivian Foreign Minister in September last year.
The tweets from the Twitter handle @adhaalath had steadily become more and more derogatory, with direct threats against the Indian High Commission and the High Commissioner.
“Our jihad is not just against GMR, it is against India. It’s kafir religion, and it’s dirty people. We must not let them take over our nation,” said a tweet posted on September 21.
There were even more offensive tweets against Hinduism, as well as rants against Hindi movies, which are hugely popular in Maldives.
“Hindi movies advocate the worship of kafir deities other than Allah. This is haram. They have songs and dance. This is haram. Stop watching it,” said a more milder tweet.
As the twitter account kept on spewing more threats, Maldivian authorities received complaints about it in November and December last year.
“Next hukuru dhuvahu (Friday), we are marching onto the Indian HC after prayers.Tell your friends and brothers that we are ready to occupy the HC,” said a threatening tweet on December 24.
India got worried about the insidious spread of the anti-India tweets, as Maldives with only a small media industry, had a very active social media presence.
Earlier this week, Male informed New Delhi that it had taken action to remove the account, as well as find out the owners of the profile.A search for the twitter handle gives a ‘user suspended’ message.
There seems to be a sign that Male may be more amenable to Indian concerns, especially after New Delhi had changed its visa policy to make it mandatory for Maldivians travelling to India for medical treatment to obtain a visa prior to leaving the Indian ocean island nation.
After days of long queues for visa before the Indian High Commission, the matter has apparently been resolved.