Former minister Dr Shaheed calls on CMAG to request India to invoke R2P on Maldives

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, has called on the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to suspend the Maldives from the Commonwealth, and to request India to invoke R2P on the Maldives.

Dr Shaheed, who held the post of foreign minister in both Gayyoom and Nasheed administrations, said this on Twitter on 26 September.

CMAG must suspend the Maldives from CW n request India to invoke R2P!

— ahmed shaheed (@ahmedshaheed) September 26, 2013

R2P, or Responsibility to Protect, is a United Nations initiative established in 2005. It is based on the claim that sovereignty is not a right but a responsibility, and focuses on preventing and halting four crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. It states that if a state fails to protect its citizens from these crimes, and peaceful measures fail, the international community has the responsibility to intervene through coercive measures such as economic sanctions. Military intervention, it states, is considered the last resort.

Vice President of Adhaalath Party, Dr Mauroof Hussain, responded to Dr Shaheed’s tweet, saying that Dr Shaheed has said that Indian military taking over the Maldives is better than the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) having any power in the Maldives.

Dr Shaheed replied to Dr Mauroof, and said that he would ‘prefer secular Indian Army to mullah-fed MNDF’.

@drmauroof Yes, I will repeat that again: I wud much prefer secular Indian Army to mullah-fed MNDF! Say NO to jihadis n takfiris!

— ahmed shaheed (@ahmedshaheed) September 27, 2013