OPERATION CACTUS
When India launched 'Operation Cactus' to save Maldives Operation Cactus Story Maldives, famous for its blue sea and white beach, woke up to the sound of gunfire. Masked killers were roaming freely on the streets of the capital Male. They had sophisticated weapons in their hands. Within no time, calls were being made from Male to all over the world. One of them was routed to India, which was reported to Kuldeep Sahdev, joint secretary in charge of the Maldives desk in the Ministry of External Affairs. In no time the capital swung into action. Maldives was in trouble. There was an attempted coup. The date was 3 November 1988. Maldives got independence from the British in 1965. About three years later, a referendum was held, in which the public chose democracy, ending the eight and a half hundred years old monarchy. Ibrahim Nasir became the first President. However, the expectations with which the public had given this responsibility to Naseer, started breaking down. Politica...