India to avoid using force in Maldives

New Delhi: The military option of India forcibly dislodging Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen from power through use of force is "not on the table" as this will have "consequences" in the global arena, sources have said, adding that New Delhi does "not want to be looked at as a country that says one thing and does another". Sources further said there is "longer-term thinking about how to deal with the situation" in the tiny archipelago nation of Maldives which is India's south-western maritime neighbour and also a member of SAARC, the south Asian grouping. Sources also admitted that the "India-Maldives relations are not in the best of health". Sources alsopointed out that New Delhi "has not taken any action that has affected people-to-people ties" between India and the Maldives and that supplies of goods too continues. India is "not alone" in voicing certain concerns about the state of affairs in the Maldives.

The admission is proof that India does not want to use the military option to dislodge Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen from power despite demands from the Maldivian Opposition that India should intervene in some form to save democracy.