Failure to take advantage of 3 November 1988 was a

Yesterday’s edition of the renowned Indian paper “The Times of India” described their failure to exploit the situation arising from the terrorist attack on the Maldives in November 1988, which prompted the Maldives to request military assistance from India, as a lost opportunity (to seize control over the Maldives).

An article titled “Tussle over Treasure Island” says that, the fact that China is increasing its influence over the Maldives today, twenty years after the terrorist attack incident, shows that India did not make the best use of the opportunity back then.

"India has, as usual, been very late in realizing China's seriousness about Maldives. Like all its neighbours (Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka), New Delhi continued to believe Maldives will remain in its pocket,'' says the Times of India, quoting Harsh V Pant, a lecturer at King's College Defence Studies.

The article says a handful of then President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s guards engaged in counterattack, which allowed him time to contact the assistance of New Delhi, following which 1600 Indian paratroopers were flown to the Maldives to break up the coup.

“India's timely help - considering Maldives had no army or navy - underscored its influence in a region which straddles the major sea lanes of the Indian Ocean. But more than two decades later, experts blame India for frittering away its advantage as China jockeys with it for influence in the region,” says the article in the Times of India.

Further referring to Harsh V Pant, the article says that in terms of providing financial assistance to the Maldives, China is ahead of India. He also said that India is falling behind China in many situations concerning the Maldives.

The article identifies several situations as evidence of China having more influence over the Maldives than India. They include China having established a Diplomatic Mission in the Maldives, a country with a populace of less than 400,000. China is also the first country outside of the South Asian region to have an Embassy in the Maldives. In addition, the Chinese assistance received for the National Museum, Foreign Ministry building, and the building of 1,000 housing units by a Chinese company, are listed as examples of China being ahead of India in the Maldives.

The article also says that since President Nasheed took over in 2008, relations between India and Maldives have improved.

Actions taken which benefit India since Nasheed became president include rewarding the project to rebuild the Maldivian Airport to an Indian company, and allowing India the deployment of coastal radars to guard the Maldives’ territory.

“An Indian company was also allowed to refurbish an airbase there to host Indian reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft,” reads the article on The Times of India.

The article ends with the phrase, “politics is the art of survival”.