Maldives must scrutinise Pakistan defence ties, former minister Mariya Didi says

Former defence minister Mariya Didi urged scrutiny of security agreements signed during President Mohamed Muizzu's Pakistan visit. She warned that unchecked commitments could erode sovereignty, strain regional ties and threaten tourism.

In Short

• Muizzu's October visit produced 20 agreements spanning trade, health and tourism
• India remains vital for emergency response, commerce and regional connectivity
• Cyber cooperation requires clear rules on data storage, access and audits

The Maldives must weigh the wider implications of strengthening defence and cybersecurity ties with Pakistan, particularly for regional stability, national security and economic prosperity, former Maldivian defence minister Mariya Didi has argued in an article reported by news agency Press Trust of India.

Didi said President Mohamed Muizzu's state visit to Pakistan from October 20 to 22, during which the two countries exchanged 20 memoranda of understanding, offered opportunities in areas such as healthcare, education, trade, agriculture and tourism. However, she called for closer scrutiny of agreements on defence, maritime security and cybersecurity amid continuing tensions between India and Pakistan.

The visit marked 60 years of diplomatic relations between the Maldives and Pakistan. Didi said the question was not whether the Maldives should maintain ties with Pakistan, but whether the government had adequately assessed the long-term implications of the new commitments for the country's national interests.

She said the Maldives, despite its size, has a significant strategic position along vital Indian Ocean sea routes. Its extensive maritime territory and heavy dependence on international tourism place it at the intersection of major geopolitical interests.

Foreign policy for a country of this size, she said, must protect sovereignty and the economy while ensuring that rivalries among larger powers do not become a burden for the Maldives.

Maritime security is crucial for the country because it needs to monitor its exclusive economic zone, tackle trafficking and illegal fishing, protect critical infrastructure and respond to emergencies. International cooperation in training, technology and information-sharing can strengthen these capabilities, she said.

However, Didi said defence partnerships could not be separated entirely from geopolitics. Military training, intelligence-sharing, equipment purchases and technical support could create long-term dependencies. Their implications would depend on the capabilities involved, the safeguards in place and the level of operational reliance they created.

She called on the government to disclose the scope of the defence and maritime security agreements, including their financial implications, operational commitments and provisions for review and termination. She also asked whether the agreements involved intelligence-sharing or access to sensitive maritime information, and what safeguards would protect the Maldives from obligations that could limit its options during a regional crisis.

These concerns were not arguments against cooperation with Pakistan, she said, but questions that responsible governments must address before entering security arrangements with potentially far-reaching consequences. A defence partnership should be assessed not only on its immediate benefits but also on whether it preserves the country's future strategic freedom.

During a joint media engagement in Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif referred to Pakistan's position on Jammu and Kashmir and raised concerns over the Indus Waters Treaty. President Muizzu did not publicly respond to the remarks, according to a report by Atoll Times.

Didi said diplomatic silence should not automatically be treated as agreement and that a leader could not be expected to respond publicly to every contentious statement made during a joint appearance. However, the absence of a response could carry significance when a sensitive bilateral dispute involving a major neighbour was raised at a high-profile diplomatic event.

India is the Maldives' closest neighbour and an important partner in security, economic development and regional stability, she said. India provided assistance during the attempted coup in November 1988, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Male water crisis in 2014 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pakistan is also a longstanding partner with which the Maldives has legitimate interests in maintaining constructive relations. Didi said the two relationships were not mutually exclusive and that the Maldives had the right to engage independently with both countries.

However, she said Maldivian diplomacy must be clear and consistent so that its engagements were not interpreted as support for positions it had not adopted. The country's foreign policy should neither be shaped by the assumptions of others nor be used to advance one partner's strategic interests at the expense of another.

The agreement covering information technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital skills could help strengthen Maldivian technological capacity, Didi said. The country needs trained specialists, resilient government systems and stronger protection for public records, financial transactions, communications and critical infrastructure.

At the same time, cybersecurity cooperation could create lasting dependencies. Depending on its implementation, technical assistance might involve access to sensitive information, digital systems or infrastructure.

Didi noted that there was no publicly established evidence that the agreement with Pakistan granted access to Maldivian government data. However, she said the safeguards governing data handling, system access and operational responsibilities required scrutiny.

She asked who would control sensitive data, where it would be stored, which institutions would have access and how the government would ensure that foreign technical support did not compromise the country's independence or create lasting reliance on external systems.

The government should establish enforceable safeguards covering data sovereignty, access permissions, information-sharing, independent audits and the protection of critical infrastructure, she said. These standards should apply equally to every foreign partner, with the objective of strengthening domestic capacity rather than replacing one vulnerability with another.

Didi described the Maldives' position as a delicate diplomatic balancing act. Pakistan is a longstanding partner and a fellow member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, while India is the country's closest neighbour and a vital partner in maritime security, trade, regional connectivity and emergency response.

The Maldives should not have to choose between the two, she said, but it also could not overlook decisions that might make such a choice more difficult during a future crisis. Individual agreements, public statements and diplomatic gestures could be interpreted as signs of broader strategic alignment even when that was not the intention.

If tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, the Maldives could face pressure over its diplomatic positions, security partnerships, intelligence relationships or the use of its facilities and capabilities. Didi said clear boundaries should therefore be established before a crisis emerged.

She called for a foreign policy based on strategic autonomy, respect for sovereignty and the peaceful resolution of disputes. The Maldives should avoid commitments that could limit its freedom of action or create expectations that it would support one country in a conflict with another.

Strategic autonomy, she said, was not measured by the number of agreements signed but by the country's ability to make independent decisions, protect its national interests and maintain constructive relations when its partners disagreed.

Didi also warned that competition between countries was not limited to conventional military confrontation and could include intelligence activities, cyber operations, political influence and attempts to gain access to sensitive information or strategic infrastructure.

There was no publicly established evidence that the recently exchanged agreements were intended to facilitate proxy operations, she said. Nevertheless, the potential consequences of unchecked strategic competition required serious consideration.

Pressure to accommodate competing security interests could strain diplomatic relationships, weaken public confidence and compromise national decision-making. The government must ensure that security agreements include clear legal safeguards, appropriate oversight and firm limits on foreign access to Maldivian territory, sensitive information and critical infrastructure, she said.

Parliament and relevant national security institutions should also have enough information to examine the implications of the agreements for sovereignty. Defence partnerships must strengthen the Maldives' ability to protect its waters, people and institutions, and must not allow external powers to use the country to pursue strategic objectives that could place its national interests at risk.

Didi also highlighted the economic risks of regional instability. Tourism is the backbone of the Maldivian economy, which recorded about 2.25 million tourist arrivals in 2025, according to official statistics. The sector earns foreign exchange, supports jobs and sustains businesses across the country.

Resorts, guesthouses, airlines, restaurants, transport operators and small businesses depend on visitors feeling safe and international travel remaining practical and affordable. Regional conflict could disrupt travel routes, increase aviation and insurance costs, unsettle financial markets and weaken consumer confidence, with effects extending beyond the countries directly involved.

Any deterioration in the Maldives' security environment, or a perception that it was becoming involved in regional rivalries, could worsen these vulnerabilities. A prolonged fall in tourist arrivals could reduce resort occupancy and small-business earnings, lead to job losses and put pressure on government revenue. Lower foreign-exchange earnings would also strain an economy heavily dependent on imports, with ordinary Maldivians ultimately bearing the consequences.

Didi said peace was not merely a diplomatic aspiration for the Maldives but an economic necessity. The country had spent decades building its reputation as a peaceful and welcoming destination, making that image one of its most valuable national assets.

While the Maldives could not control whether larger countries went to war, it could ensure that its foreign policy did not unnecessarily expose it to their rivalries. Didi said Muizzu's Pakistan visit provided an opportunity to assess whether the country's expanding international partnerships were making it safer, more resilient and better able to determine its own future.

In closing, she said the Maldives should maintain friendships with many countries but manage them in a way that protects sovereignty, preserves freedom of action and enables constructive relations with all neighbours. This would require transparency over agreements, meaningful parliamentary scrutiny, safeguards for sensitive information and a clear strategy for handling competing regional interests. The guiding principle, she said, should be to cooperate widely, depend cautiously and remain sovereign without allowing bilateral gains to endanger the peace on which the country's security and prosperity depend.

With PTI Inputs

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