Originally Published 2018-02-05 06:30:11 Published on Feb 05, 2018
Is Maldives heading for emergency?

Maldives has been on the boil since 1 February. Besieged by hundreds of seething protestors, the government of President Yameen is fighting a losing battle as it stands challenged by the Supreme Court that has ordered the release of all his opponents and a restless Parliament set to impeach the President.

President Yameen struck back on 4 Febrauray as Attorney-General Mohamed Anil flanked by the Chief of Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) General Shiyam, and the newly appointed Commissioner of Police Abdulla Nawaz, effectively declared himself the chief judicial authority in the Maldives and ordered the police and the military not to follow rulings of the Supreme Court.

What the Supreme Court ordered on 1 February was the immediate release from detention of former President Mohamed Nasheed, Jumhooree Party Leader Hon. Qasim Ibrahim, and Adhaalath Party Leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla, Former Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim, MP Faris Maumoon and four other political prisoners.

The ruling said all political prisoners must be released as the trials against them violated the Maldives’ Constitution and international law. The ruling also stated that political pressure was applied on the prosecutors and the courts during these trials. It further ordered that all these cases should be judicially re-evaluated in accordance with law and until a fair-trial all those persons should be released with immediate effect.

The Supreme Court further annulled the previous controversial ‘anti-defection’ ruling of July 2017, thus immediately reinstating 12 opposition members of parliament. These members belonging to the ruling party had defected to the Opposition and the Speaker had debarred them from holding their parliamentary seats. This act was held unconstitutional as there existed no law on ‘floor-crossing and changing of party membership by parliamentarians’ and that the Government had failed to come up with such a law even after 6 months and 20 days past the event. The restoration of the 12 MPs gives the opposition alliance a clear majority in the Parliament.

Following this order, the Commissioner of Police Areef declared that he would abide by the orders of the court and implement it. Within hours, he was dismissed by President Yameen. He was replaced by Acting Commissioner Saudhee who said that he too would abide by the court orders. Soon, he was replaced by Nawaz.

Meanwhile, the youth led by the united opposition party leaders have gathered from the night of 1 February to clebrate the court verdict and force the President’s office to issue orders implementing the order.

After two days of dithering, the President ordered his Attorney General to issue a direct challenge to the Supreme Court, refusing to implement its orders. The AG further speculated that he had reports that the Supreme Court would rule on Sunday, 4 February, that President Yameen could no longer hold office, following his refusal to comply with Supreme Court’s ruling of 1 February.

The AG said the Supreme Court is about to rule on Yameen and that such a ruling would be a national security threat, and hence he would not allow for its implementation. The Chief of Defense and the Police Commissioner too said they will follow the Attorney General’s instructions.

The Police then attempted to arrest the Chief Justice and the Judicial Administrator, equivalent to the Registrar of the Supreme Court. Protesters and Police clashed outside the home of the Chief Justice late last night, amidst reports that the Police were about to arrest the Chief Justice.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed on Twitter labeled this unconstitutional and highly illegal move as tantamount to a coup d’etat.

Sunday saw scenes of chaos at the parliament, as both riot police and the military in riot gear, sealed off the legislature in an apparent – and illegal – attempt to stop parliamentarians from entering the building. That was supposed to be the first parliamentary session of 2018.

Military personnel in full riot gear are currently in the chamber, as opposition MPs try to force a vote of no confidence against President Yameen.

The Secretary-General of parliament, who had announced he would abide by the Supreme Court order to reinstate the 12 MPs, resigned on Sunday. This follows the resignation of a host of officials, including the head of Maafushi prison, where political prisoners are currently detained. Following the Supreme Court’s descision reinstating the MPs, the Speaker had called off the opening of Parliament, scheduled for 5 February. Now the Opposition parties claim they have the support of at least 50 MPs to vote for impeachment of the President. A mere 43 votes are sufficient to bring down the President.

In a last ditch attempt to save himself from an united opposition supported by the Judiciary and a Parliament set to impeach him, President Yameen is likely to declare a national emergency and assume dictatorial powers. There are reports that defence forces personnel from islands outside Male’ are being rushed in hundreds of boats as the Opposition too is mobilisng supporters from other islands. The island nation is all set for a show down.

India is closely monitoring the sitaution having already urged all parties to abide by the ‘spirit of democracy and rule of law and implement the verdict of the Supreme Court.’


This commentary originally appeared in Deccan Herald.

The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.

Editor

Anjali Birla

Anjali Birla

Anjali Birla is an Indian Civil Services Officer(Batch 2020) working in the Ministry of Railways and has done her graduation in Political Science from Delhi ...

Read More +