Maldives envoy says ‘all good’ with India as he reaches Parliament ahead of the Budget session

New Delhi: High commissioner of Maldives Ibrahim Shaheeb on Wednesday said everything is good between India and the Maldives — as he reached Parliament ahead of the Budget session. The comment came amid a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Male over PM Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep. Soon after the row, political turmoil followed in Maldives as the opposition in Maldives asked president Mohamed Muizzu to apologise to India.

“All good,” the envoy said as he was asked to comment on the present situation between India and the Maldives.

On Tuesday, external affairs minister S Jaishankar commented on the India-Maldives relationship and said every neighbourhood has problems but neighbours ultimately need each other. “Every country has problems in its neighbourhood. It is never as good as they say it is. It is never as bad as they say it is. There will be problems. Our job is to anticipate, assess, respond. At the end of the day, neighbours have relationships with each other. At the end of the day, neighbours need each other. History and geography are very powerful forces. There is no escape from that,” Jaishankar said.

After the election of Muizzu, the India-Maldives relationship took a hit because of Muizzu’s pro-China stance. Muizzu asked India to withdraw its military personnel present in the island; Muizzu also visited China before India — breaking a tradition.