Archive for July, 2010

Today (25^th July 2010) (10am-11am) the Government and the Opposition Alliance representing DRP, PA, DQP and JP met in the Parliament House (courtesy to the Speaker of the Parliament) to resolve the ongoing crisis in the country.

Participants from the Opposition Alliance

1. Hon. Ahmed Thasmeen Ali (DRP)
2. Hon. Abdullah Yameen (PA)
3. Dr. Hassan Saeed (DQP)
4. Hon. Qasim Ibrahim (JP)

Participants from the Government

1. Hon. Maria Ahmed Didi (MDP)
2. Hon. Ahmed Hamza (MDP)
3. Hon. Ibrahim Mohamed Salih

Issues government tabled

1. Wholesale approval of the cabinet( which resigned on 29^th June 2010 and was reappointed by the President)

Issues tabled and pledges by the Opposition

1. Unconditional support in the Parliament for service delivery related laws.
2. Unconditional support in the Parliament in prioritizing laws which the Government deems important.
3. A public pledge by the President that he will not violate any right conferred on citizens by the Constitution or by any other law.
4. A public pledge by the President that he will not do anything that may undermine independent institutions in the country.
5. A public pledge by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and by the Commissioner of Police that they will not do anything contrary to the Constitution or law.
6. An assurance by the Government that members of the ruling MDP will not disrupt the Parliamentary proceedings or a committee thereof.
7. Considering the seriousness of the crisis in the country, the numerous independent institutions that have to formed and confirmed by the Parliament, and the large number of laws that require to be enacted within the two year transition period the Opposition Alliance has decided to delay parliamentary recess until all these issues are resolved.
8. Opposition Alliance will not support any change to the system of Government unless  accompanied by a fresh election.
9. The Vice-President (along with the President) shall also announce his desire to go for election (because if the president resigns and the vice president does not then he will takeover the presidency)

The second meeting will take place on 27^th July 2010 in the Parliament House.

Either you hate him or love him. For those who love him, President Nasheed is the Mandela of the Maldives. Was imprisoned. Tortured. Evicted from his parliamentary seat. Went into self-imposed exile. Returned home. Confronted the might of the 30 ruler President Qayyoom, his police and armed forces. Won the first ever multiparty election held in the country. Forgives his predecessor. Asks his supporters to do the same. Holds underwater cabinet. Wins UN’s Earth Award.

What better story one can think of than this? For his fans the story of President Nasheed, a former Amnesty prisoner of conscious, is certainly on par if not better than that of Mandela of South of Africa or Gandhi of India or Martin Luther Kind of United States.

Those who hate him the story is equally compelling.

For them President Nasheed is a corrupt, selfish, unprincipled, greedy power hungry, substance abusing, scheming, conniving thief and a liar prepared to do anything to grab power and to stay in power. They see nothing right with the president and everything wrong with him.

To start with in less than two years in power he has already imprisoned, charged two political parties leaders for sedition (the same charge Nasheed faced when in opposition), harasses and forcefully drags to police headquarters the predecessor he forgave, sends army with tanks and heavy weapons to abduct Members of Parliament and holds then without a charge or a court order as long as he pleases, conveniently disregards court orders, threatens arrests and beats up judges and drags them to police and military headquarters, bypass the constitution, laws and judgments of the court, wiretaps politicians, businessman and citizens who disagree with him and plays those tapes in the state media, turns the state media into his propaganda machine, undermines democratic institutions, orders his ministers and senior government officials to demonstrate on the streets, orchestrates mob rule.

For the opponents Nasheed came to power through deceit. He always told the public that he will never contest for presidency. Public voted him because he promised a mid-term election. But he renegades it the day he took oath of office. He came to power with a coalition umbrella and dismantles it in a matter of days. To defeat his opponents in his party primary he told that if he wins the party ticket he would become the running mate of a more popular presidential candidate outside from his party. But when he won the primary he renegades that too.

He forced the first two MDP presidents to vacate their office and even to leave the party. For his opponents, if anything, Nasheed is a dictator. They cite the MDP founder and President Nasheed’s Human Rights Envoy’s celebrated quote that “Nasheed will be more ruthless dictator than his predecessor!”

For his opponents President Nasheed’s struggle has nothing to do with democracy or rule of law. He is merely continuing his ancestral struggle to grape power. His grandfather is said to have been involved in lynching the then head of State Ameen Didi. His father tried to assassinate the former President Ibrahim Nasir. His uncle brought Tamil Tigers to overthrow the Government of President Gayyoom – in the process killing 22 innocent citizens. Finally Nasheed succeeds. And he will do everything to stay in power!

Make your choice – is President Nasheed divine or devil?

24th July, 11:10, Male, Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

The high level delegation of opposition alliance who travelled to the United Kingdom regarding the current political crisis in Maldives returns back to Maldives this morning at around 8am.

The delegation include, Dr. Hassan Saeed, Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, Mr. Abdul Matheen Mohamed.

Our sources have eye witnessed them at Male’ International Airport this morning.

Oppositions hard work that exposed Mr. Nasheed’s government to international community was instrumental in the release of opposition figures and MPs from unconstitutional detention and enormous international pressure to Mr. Nasheed’s government.

23rd July, 15:15, Male’, Maldives

Hon. Abdulla Yameen MP for Mulaku constituency have been freed from Maldives Army capitivity today at 11:30am. The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Blake, Jr called Mr. Nasheed to release Hon. Yameen or charge him. His release came in less than 24 hours of Hon. Blakes call.

Meantime, the opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party has warned on 18th July that Mr. Nasheed’s government will face serious international consequences if detained opposition leaders are not freed within a week.

The leader of DRP Hon. Thasmeen Ali anniunced that talks could begin only after opposition figures are freed. He also said that negotiation will be done in the presence of opposition coalition.

Jumhooree Party hon. Qasim Ibrahim was also arrested before called government to free all the illegitimate detained politicians.

The opposition team which travelled to London has put enormous pressure on the government which forced to free Hon. Yameen and other detained opposition figures.

23rd July, 11:25, Male’, Maldives

We have learned that the Leader of Dhivehi Qaumee Party Dr. Hassan Saeed will be giving an interview to Al Jazeera tomorrow at 1pm.

Initially it was planned to air today at 10am GMT and 2pm Maldives time. However, it was resheduled for tomorrow. Dr. Hassan interview is likely be based on the current political crisis.

23rd July, 11:25, Male’, Maldives

We have learned that the Leader of Dhivehi Qaumee Party Dr. Hassan Saeed will be giving an interview to Al Jazeera  today at 10am GMT and 2pm Maldives time. His interview is likely be based on the current political crisis.

Dr. Hassan Saeed together with Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed and Abdul Matheen Mohamed is currently in London to brief various organizations on the situation in Maldives. Few days back Dr. Hassan’s article was published in one of the most famous new paper in UK, The Guardian.

President Mr. Mohamed Nasheed’s government is under lot of international pressure following the cabinet resignation and opposition tireless work to brief the international community how Mr. Nasheed is taking democracy backward in Maldives.

Since, the opposition coalition started working on same platform to stop sale of Male’ International Airport below market price to Indian DRM and following political crisis the international media has really learned the true nature Mr. Nasheed who showed international community that he is a champion of democracy. However, his real nature was exposed when he arrested and detained political opposition leaders without court warrant and his effort to destabilize the country and undermine parliament and rule of law.

The UN for the first time in the history of Maldives have issued a statement advising Mr. Nasheed to respect the constitution and uphold the democratic principles.

22nd July, 19:45, Male’, Maldives

The leader of DRP says that he is ready to go for talks with the government to bring a solution to the current crisis however, with the representation of all our parties in the coalition. He also highlighted that release of Hon. Yameen from captivity will create a conducive environment for talks. Its not acceptable to go for dialogue when one of the coalition partner is unconstitutionally held captive.

Hon. Thasmeen also mentioned that having a foreign mediator is crucial as the trust between parties remain very low.

22nd July, 19:20, Male’, Maldives

The mediator for the current political impasse in Maldives Robert O Blake, Jr the assistant secretary of state for South and Cenral Asia met with the main opposition coalition DRP, DQP, JP and PA. The representatives from all parties took part in the discussion to find an amicable solution to the current political crisis.  DRP leader Hon. Thasmeen, JP leader Hon. Qasim Ibrahim, PA Deputy Leader Hon. Nazim and DQP Secretary General Abdulla Ameen participated in the meeting the mediator. Our sources have learned that the meeting was held in the DRP main office in Male’ from 16:30 to 19:00hrs.

The opposition briefed Hon. Blake about the current crisis and how it was created and how long lasting solution will be reached.

Hon. Blake, Jr is also to meet with the government.

The current crisis started when the government Nasheed went ahead signing with GRM to lease Male’ International Airport without respecting a parliament decision. The parliament passed an amendment to the public finance law which prohibits sale of state assets without the consent of the parliament.

Following the incident Mr. Nasheed’s entire cabinet resigned withour prior notice and resigned ministers and political appointees took to the streets of Male’ and started their campaign to undermine parliament and judiciary of this infant democracy.

President Mr. Nasheed went ahead and arrested Hon. Qasim and Hon. Yameen without court order and sent them to the notorious Dhoonidhoo Jail. However, later on the Supreme Court of Maldives made a judgment that they were arrested illegally and that they can go home and they are free. However, few days later Mr. Nasheed’s government took Hon. Yameen to captivity with the help of country’s army which clearly breaches the constitution of Maldives.

Following these serial events the political atmosphere of the country became very tense and daily protests in capital Male’ and islands were carried out. Some of the protests have turned violent and MPs houses and opposition figures have been attacked. Army and Police have been deployed in the streets. The president have not so far announced a state of emergency. However, analysts believe that the army is acting as if there is a state of emergency in place.

A solution to the crisis need to reached soon. if not there is fear that the democracy may suffocate at infancy and there might be a huge economic crisis.

22nd July, 13:55, Male’, Maldives

The reason behind current political impasse in Maldives

1. The lease of Male’ International Airport to Indian GRM below market price
2. The propaganda behind winning the upcoming local election by ruling MDP
3. Due to failing of MDP efforts to buy more MPs in the parliament to ensure their majority
4. To cover up the corruption of the government behind their initiative to privatize major state assets and leasing of islands in various names

Maldives Airports Company is a profitable company that all Maldivians are proud. On 25 June 2010 they announced that their profit in 2009 was MRF 257,134,010 (USD 20,010,429). The Company’s profit in 2008 was MRF 229,748,131 (USD 17,879,232), which marks a 11.92% increase in net profit in 2009.

Many Maldivian feels that the Indian company GMR has simply snatched the only International Airport in Maldives without the will of the Maldivian people.

GRM says that they will charge a USD25 per person as the airport development charge. This is in addition to current USD18 airport service charge.

“Even if they (GMR) sign the agreement, even if the assumes the management of the airport, we will do whatever we can to cancel the agreement. We will go to Court and I have the guarantee that we can win this case” opposition said.

22nd July, 13:20, Male’, Maldives

Surging tidal waves flood parts of the main outer road of Male’ the capital of Maldives.

The carnival area of Male’ was flooded lastnight due to rising tides. Male’ stands less than 3 feet above sea level. During the monsoon season in Maldives which generally fall between April-August it is common that many islands experience tidal surges.

When the current president came to power he said that he is going to establish a sovereign fund to buy land from somewhere else so that Maldivian government will buy land to shelter the 300,000 people of Maldives.

The rich Maldivians who mainly constitute of owners of land in Male’ , shareholders of tourism ventures and allies of government have already bought land in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, UK, Australia and neighboring Sri Lanka.

The poor Maldivians who constitute around 80 percent of Maldivian population remain in the remote islands of Maldives where there is no basic sanitation, no drainage, no pave roads, no proper health care, no proper education. Most of the islands are mosquito infested.