Maldives prez lifts state of emergency after 45 days
Move comes a day after political opponents locked up
COLOMBO/NEW DELHI: Maldives President Abdulla Yameen lifted a 45-day state of emergency on Thursday, a day after senior political opponents were locked up indefinitely for allegedly trying to topple him last month.
Yameen chose not to extend the laws he had invoked on February 5 following a Supreme Court ruling that threatened to lead to his impeachment.
“Though there still exists a diminished threat to national security... in an effort to promote normalcy, the president has decided to lift the state of emergency,” Yameen’s office said.
India said as a neighbour whose security is closely intertwined with that of the island nation, it wishes to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Maldives that meets the aspiration of its citizens.
Yameen initially declared the state of emergency for 15 days after the Supreme Court on February 1 ordered him to free highprofile dissidents from jail. It was later extended for another 30 days, deepening the political crisis in the island nation.
The dissidents’ release would have paved the way for former leader Mohamed Nasheed to return from self-imposed exile in London and contest presidential elections later this year.
India welcomed the revocation of the emergency as a step in the right direction, but the external affairs ministry said a “number of concerns” remain to be addressed. India also urged the Maldives to ensure the restoration of the political process and rule of law before elections are announced this year.
In a statement, the ministry called on the Maldives to “allow the Supreme Court and other branches of the judiciary to operate in full independence, to promote and support the free and proper functioning of Parliament, to implement the Supreme Court’s full bench order of February 1, 2018 and to support a genuine political dialogue with all opposition parties”.
Yameen had refused to carry out the court order and instead imposed the emergency which curtailed the powers of the judiciary and the legislature. He also arrested the chief justice and another Supreme Court judge.
Thursday’s statement defended the emergency measures, saying they had been precipitated by a “constitutional crisis” created by the two judges.
It added that they had “conspired with political actors... (to) overthrow a lawful government, and whose actions constituted an imminent threat to national security”.