IOP Delhi Bureau
New Delhi, July 05, 2019: The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) organised a lecture by Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), Maj. Gen. Abdulla Shamaal, on ‘National Security Vulnerabilities: Issues for Small States’ on July 05, 2019.
Speaking about Maldives’ ‘India First Policy’, Maj. Gen. Shamaal acknowledged India as a regional security provider and observed that India has often been a first responder to crises in the region and it should play a key role as a guarantor of peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region. He said countries in the region could draw many positive lessons from Indian culture and its democratic traditions.
Maj. Gen. Shamaal said that smaller states might lack the physical attributes of larger states and lack economic power, but have strategic significance that could be leveraged against in their dealings with larger countries. Smaller states require a stable regional and international order to grow as they need to expand their influence in the international arena and also value their autonomy in decision making, he argued.
He held that radicalisation and violent extremism posed a critical threat to the states in the region and citing the case of the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka he said that it was a very complex and complicated issue which required multi-domain, multi-agency and multi-structural approach by various states to counter this menace, with a “whole of Government” and “Whole of Society” approach.
Maj. Gen Shamaal said that the international environment today is extremely turbulent and volatile due to multi-layered complexities and uncertainties which often become unmanageable because of incomplete and ambiguous information sharing by states and security agencies. Therefore, there was a need for collective action, he emphasised.