Male: Highlighting India’s role as a first support responder, Maldives is this week remembering the crucial role played by New Delhi in defending the archipelagic country in South Asia.

It was on November 3, 1988 that a band of foreign mercenaries backed by local conspirators launched a violent coup attempt in the Maldives.

However, as a report in The Standard Maldives highlighted, the nation’s sovereignty was restored within hours through a remarkable display of courage by Maldivian defenders and the “swift military response” of India in what became known as Operation Cactus.

“In the early morning hours, around 80 armed mercenaries from the Sri Lankan militant group PLOTE (People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam) invaded Male. They had been secretly ferried in aboard a hijacked

See Full Page