NEW DELHI: India on Friday refuted the report alleging that the opposition sought $6 million from India to help in a plot to remove the president of Maldives. Mohamed Muizzu and said the newspaper and the reporter appear to harbor “a compulsive hostility toward India.”
In response to a question about the Washington Post reporting, the Foreign Office (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal harshly criticized the newspaper and said that according to them, they have no credibility.
“These are articles that you refer to were published by the Washington Post, one about the Maldives and the other in relation to Pakistan. So, I would say that both the newspaper and the journalist in question seem to harbor a compulsive hostility towards India. A pattern can be seen in their activities. I leave it to you to judge their credibility, as far as we are concerned, they have none,” Jaiswal said at a weekly press conference.
Previously, the Washington Post reported that Maldivian opposition politicians proposed bribing 40 parliamentarians, including those from Muizzu’s own party, to vote in favor of his dismissal.
The report also claimed that a senior official at India’s intelligence agency, R&AW, “explored” a plot to overthrow President Muizzu months after he took office.
Earlier, former president of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed dismissed a Washington Post report and said he was not aware of any “serious plot” against President Muizzu, adding that India would never support such a move.
In response to the Washington Post report claiming that India had carried out covert assassinations in Pakistan against Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, the MEA spokesperson warned residents about terror groups.
He quoted Hillary Clinton’s statement: “You can’t have snakes in your backyard and expect them to only bite your neighbors.”